Grand Romantic Gestures in Northeastern Cultures
by copperpenny92
Summary: Annie moves to Boston for Graduate School before Jeff can tell her how he feels. A month later, he decides to go to Boston and tell her. Abed tags along to film it as a documentary with hopes that Jeff will use a Grand Romantic Gesture. However, things become complicated when they discover she's dating another guy.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: First Community fic! Anyway, I don't own _Community. _

Synopsis: Annie moves to Boston for Graduate School before Jeff can tell her how he feels. A month later, he decides to go to Boston and tell her. Abed tags along to film it with hopes that Jeff will use a Grand Romantic Gesture. However, things become complicated when they discover she's dating another guy. Chronicles Jeff's many attempts at the perfect Grand Romantic gesture to tell Annie how he feels and many homages/references to movies/shows set in Boston.

This chapter is more of an Introduction/Prologue.

* * *

Jeff stopped staring at the empty suitcase on his bed. He got up and packed five dress shirts in various colors and then folded three pairs of pants. As he sifted through his dresser drawers, he selected five t-shirts; three black and two white. He didn't think this would be a long trip. What he needed to say should have been said a month ago. Now, he needed to tell her. He was going to do something he never thought he would do for any woman. He was going to go to her.

He needed toiletries. He rummaged through his bathroom cabinet and packed the essentials; hair gel, moisturizer, deodorant, body wash, shampoo and conditioner. He threw them into one of the side pockets of his suitcase. He took five pairs of underwear out of his drawer and placed them next to his pants. He shoved some pairs of socks into the netted pocket. He was done. This was it.

He ran over to his computer and printed out the airline ticket. Denver to Boston at three PM. He folded the ticket neatly and placed the crisp, computer paper into the back pocket of his Dior Hommes.

It was summer. He wouldn't need a jacket. He locked the door to his condo and turned around.

"Why, Jeffrey!" the Dean faced him with a smug, but vehement smile. He took a couple steps closer, holding a grocery bag, "Funny seeing you here."

"Do you mean it's funny that by some, 'twist of fate,' we unfortunately live next door to each other? Because it's not," Jeff said.

"Taking a trip?" the Dean asked.

"Yes," Jeff said before walking past the Dean, down the hallway.

"Can I come with?" the Dean asked, shrugging. He motioned his hips side to side, "You know? Guys' getaway?"

Jeff looked back and said, "No, and do not even begin to describe to me what a 'guys' getaway,' is," and continued walking down the hallway.

"Where to?" the Dean asked.

"Nowhere," Jeff said, not turning back. His grip on the handle of the suitcase tightened.

The Dean would probably just hack into Jeff's e-mail later and find out where. Jeff changing his password every week didn't stop him.

Jeff waited outside for the cab. He checked his Movado watch for the time. Take off was at three and it was a four hour plane ride. He added in an extra hour for time difference. He concluded, he would get there by eight.

The cab pulled up, causing Jeff's face to contort from an expression of indifference to one of vexation. The lines on his forehead became more distinguished and he resisted from kicking his suitcase. "What the hell are you doing here?" Jeff asked. His teeth clenched together.

In the cab, Abed had a camera resting on his shoulder. He said, "I'm coming with you."

Jeff's arms motioned like a baseball referee and he said, "No, no, no. You are not making a documentary about this. In fact, how the hell did you even find out about this?"

"Shirley," Abed said, expressionless. "Also, I wouldn't exactly call this a documentary. Maybe a participatory documentary or a reflexive documentary because I'll probably end up getting too involved. Much like in _Man with a Movie Camera_ or _Chronicle of a Summer._"

Jeff threw his bag into the trunk of the cab. He sat besides Abed in the backseat. First he glared into the camera and then looked ahead. He said to the driver, "Please, take him home on the way to the airport."

"Jeff?" Abed asked, "Do you have a plan?"

The sound of the camera zooming buzzed through Jeff's ears.

"What do you mean?" Jeff said. He tipped his head at Abed.

"When you go tell Annie you love her. Do you have a plan? A Grand Romantic Gesture? Do you know how long you'll stay in Boston?"

"No, no, and no," Jeff said. His lips tightened into a scowl.

"Have you spoken to Annie since she's moved there for Graduate School?" Abed asked. The camera lens droned, indicating Abed zooming out.

Jeff shook his head and closed his eyes. He said, "No," before burying his face in his hands.

"Do you even know where she lives?"

"No, I don't, Abed, even though she gave all of us her address before moving a month ago," Jeff said sarcastically, "that would just make too much sense."

"Do you know that she's moved?"

"What? Why did she move?" Jeff said. His eyes widened with concern.

"She had a temporary sublet," Abed said candidly.

"So, she lives somewhere else now?" Jeff asked. His eyebrows rose and he looked at Abed with intense anticipation.

Abed nodded and said, "I have her address right here." Without taking his eyes off the viewfinder, Abed reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a folded, yellow piece of paper.

Jeff reached for the paper, but Abed pulled it away.

Abed tilted his head at him, "Take me with you, Jeff. You're going to need me. You can't do this by yourself and you might need my help. Also, my plane ticket is non-refundable."

"What kind of help am I going to need?" Jeff asked. His eyes narrowed like he was questioning a used car salesman. He had a feeling Abed knew something he didn't.

"What if some kind of conflict arises? What if things go awry? Jeff, you don't even have a plan. It's not like you can just knock on her door."

"And why, exactly, can I not just knock on her door?" Jeff asked with indifference.

"It's not romantic. It has no appeal to. It's-"

"Abed, I'm just going to knock on her door," Jeff said, then sighed for a minute and winced. He added with reluctance, "You can film that if you want, but it's only because your plane ticket is non-refundable."

"Deal," Abed said.

* * *

After the plane ride, Abed and Jeff arrived at the Logan Airport baggage claim. Jeff stood next to the conveyor belt, texting on his phone. Abed found his bag on the belt and immediately took out his camera.

"Jeff, who are you texting?" Abed asked him. The camera buzzed as he zoomed in on Jeff.

"It's not that of your concern," Jeff said. His eyes focused on the screen of his Blackberry, "Can't you disable the zoom sound on that thing?"

"I like the effect the sound adds. Who you're texting might be of my concern. Does it have to do with a Grand Romantic Gesture for Annie?"

Jeff looked up. He said with nonchalance, "No." He spotted his suitcase on the conveyor belt and grabbed it.

As they walked to the airport shuttle, Abed asked him, "How do you feel, Jeff?" The camera hummed as Abed zoomed in on Jeff's face.

"Nervous," Jeff simply stated.

"Are you going right to Annie's apartment or are you checking into a hotel first?"

"I'm going right to Annie's apartment."

"You do know you have to take the subway and then transfer to a streetcar?"

"Yes, Abed. I'm aware of how public transit works."

"You do know it's going to take a couple hours to get there?"

"Is this you not so subtly implying you want me to take a cab?"

"I don't know? It's your choice," Abed said.

They got onto the shuttle bus that would take them to the Airport T-Station. Jeff sat down on one of the hard, plastic seats and looked at the yellow piece of paper in his hands. "I want to take the streetcar," he said, "I need more time to think."

They waited at the Blue Line Subway T-station and got onto the subway.

Abed turned to Jeff and asked, "Do you know what would be awesome?"

"No, Abed. What?"

"If you happened to meet Annie on-"

"Does this have to do with a movie?" Jeff interrupted.

"Yeah, it's-"

"I don't want to know. This is real life and I don't need these unrealistic, romantic comedy moments of realization being referenced every five minutes."

"Okay," Abed said, "But-"

"But nothing. You should be happy that I'm letting you film this," Jeff said.

They got off of the subway and transferred to the Green Line streetcar station. Jeff stared at the public transit map.

"You want to take the 'C,' branch," Abed said from behind Jeff's back.

"I know, Abed. I was just looking," Jeff said. He sighed and ruffled one of his hands through his hair.

The street car arrived. Jeff sat down on one of the seats. Abed sat across from him and focused the camera.

"Do you know what you're going to say to her?" Abed asked.

"I'm still not sure," Jeff said as he looked at the doors open. Hoards of Red Sox fans poured into their car.

"Will there be an epic Winger speech declaring your love for her?"

"I'm working on something," Jeff said before he got elbowed in the head by one of the Red Sox fans. He glared at the fan who elbowed him and then at Abed. Jeff asked, "Are you going to be asking me annoying questions the entire time?

"Maybe not the entire time. It all depends on what happens."

* * *

Jeff and Abed got off at the T-stop. Jeff looked at his phone and typed in Annie's address on the GPS. They walked on the treelined streets past old, brick brownstones.

"So, care to provide some backstory?" Abed asked. He focused the camera on Jeff.

"Backstory?" Jeff questioned. As he walked, he looked at himself in the glass window of a Dunkin' Donuts.

"For the viewer. About you and Annie and what happened," Abed said.

"I am not providing a 'backstory.'"

"What about the context? Shouldn't the audience know about what happened-"

"Please, drop the question," Jeff said. He looked to his right and asked, "Is it me or is this the third Dunkin' Donuts we've been by in the past four blocks?"

"Jeff, are you still nervous? Do you think the last conversation you had with Annie is a significant reason for your apprehension?"

"Abed, I told you to stop asking me questions."

Suddenly, Jeff saw a petite, brunette woman and a tall man in his twenties leave one of the stores in front of him and Abed.

"I'm just trying to inform the audie-"

"Shit," Jeff interrupted. He grabbed Abed by the arm and dragged him into an ally.

Jeff peeked over the side of the wall and observed the couple walking down the street. Their hands were linked together.

Abed peeked over the wall below Jeff and said, "It's Annie."

"Are you sure?" Jeff whispered. His eyes were still fixed on the couple walking down the street.

"The woman is about five-two. She wears a floral skirt, cardigan sweater and Mary Jane shoes. She's walks as if attempting to feign an easy going nature. Her shoulders displaying the perfect posture of-"

"Is she holding hands with a guy?" Jeff asked. His eyes became wide. His mouth started to feel dry.

"It doesn't appear to be a woman. So, yes," Abed said flatly.

"Oh, this is just the perfect time for a joke, Abed. And a lame one too, I might add."

"Sorry, I was trying to lighten the situation. It's my job as the supporting character."

"Well, don't," Jeff said. His voice became stressed as he complained, "She's been been here only a month and she already has a boyfriend? She was at Greendale for four years and the only guy I can remember her having anything serious with was Vaughn."

"The population of Boston's median age is late twenties. For Greendale it's the early fifties."

"What are you implying?"

"Annie's dating pool is larger here," Abed said. After a pause, he added, "Let's follow them."

"What if she sees us? How the hell to we explain-" Jeff shook his head and pointed at the camera, "this...And everything...You know, us being here like total stalkers. She's going to think I'm like Jude Law in _Closer_."

"If we play it right, she could think of you like Lloyd Dobler. You know, you could put on an impromptu Grand Romantic-"

"No, Abed. This isn't a romantic comedy from the eighties," Jeff interrupted.

"Anyway, I think she is too absorbed with other things to be worried about what's behind her," Abed said. He left the ally and started to follow Annie and the man she held hands with down Beacon Street.

"Well, I would be concerned if some schizoid with a camera was following me," Jeff said. He sighed, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. With reluctance, he followed Abed.

They followed the woman they believed to be Annie and the man holding her hand from a distance. When they saw them go into an apartment, Jeff and Abed stopped walking and stood across the street from the brownstone. Jeff looked at the yellow piece of paper in his hands. He shook his head, then crumpled it as his hand transformed into a fist.

"It's Annie," Jeff said. His eyes focused on the window of her building where a light just turned on.

"What are you going to do?" Abed asked. He pointed his camera towards Jeff, shining the light attached to it in Jeff's eyes.

Jeff squinted from the luminescence of the mountable camera light and asked, "How the hell do you afford all this camera equipment?"

"It's not important. What's important is what you're going to do," Abed said.

Jeff turned his face away from the camera light and said, "We're waiting."

"For what?" Abed asked.

"For one of them to come out," Jeff said.

After waiting a while, drunken college students began to roam the streets.

"Jeff, its one-thirty. Let's catch the next street-car back to the center of the city before they close public transit."

"I want to wait, Abed. We can take a cab back, if we need to," Jeff said, "I need to figure out what's going on before I talk to her."

"It may be the end of June and only sixty degrees out, but maybe we should go back to the center of the city, where Annie wont see us, get a hotel room and reconvene for tomorrow?"

"Fine" Jeff sighed.

Just when they were about to leave, the man Annie was with left her apartment.

"Follow him!" Jeff whispered to Abed.

"I think this may have officially become stalking," Abed said.

"Just, come on," Jeff said. He walked away.

They followed him to the nearest Green Line T-station. They saw him wait for a train and followed him into the car.

The man wore tan cargo shorts and a Ralph Lauren polo. Jeff tried to avoid looking at him from the corner of his eye. Abed set his camera down in the seat across from the man, pretending to not film what was happening.

The man's phone rang and he answered it, "Hey, man...No way! Dude, really? No way! ...It was great...Yeah, she's wicked awesome...No, not yet...Yeah, she's kind of conservative...Obviously eventually...Tomorrow? No, I can't. I'm taking her to a Red Sox's game...Later?...Maybe later, I guess. I'll see...I gotta go, its my stop...Alright, see yah."

Jeff sat in his seat. His eyes filled with anger while Abed held him back, gripping his arm. Jeff's arms were folded and his lips compressed to a pout.

At the next stop, the man exited the train car.

Abed picked up his camera from the seat next to him and focused it on Jeff. He asked, "What now?"

Jeff turned to him, looking directly into the camera, and said, "Abed, get ready to film a Grand Romantic Gesture."


	2. Chapter 2

a/n: I don't own _Community. _

And thanks for reviews/follows!

* * *

Annie sat on the floor of her living room with her back leaning on the arm of her couch. She looked at the time on her cable box. It was quarter to two in the morning. She opened the laptop on her coffee table and checked Twitter. With reluctance she closed her eyes and clicked on Jeff's Twitter feed. He hadn't tweeted in the last twelve hours. She looked at his last tweet, which read, "#Hightopsneakers should never come back in style. It was bad enough in the eighties and #_BacktotheFuture:PartTwo_ shouldn't be accurate about anything that's relevant in the year 2013."

Then, someone began to call her from Skype. Annie laughed to herself as she accepted the call.

"Annie! See, I told you I could figure out how to work this thing," Britta's voice said from the laptop's speakers. She asked, "Why are you laughing?"

"Britta," Annie said, smiling, "The webcam is pointing at the ceiling."

"No, I can see you perfectly fine."

"But I can't see you. Focus the camera down more."

"Fine," Britta said, then paused for a minute.

Annie saw Britta's webcam perspective change from the ceiling to below Britta's shoulders. She restrained herself from laughing, "Now I can't see your face. I can only see from your shoulders down."

"Stop laughing! This thing is hard to figure out."

"Push the screen forward a little bit."

The view of Britta's webcam changed. Britta asked, "How's this?"

Annie smiled as she saw that the screen cut off at Britta's forehead. She said, "It's fine."

"Good," Britta said with a wide smile, "So, how's it going over there on the East Coast? People aren't as friendly over there. I mean, I would know. I did-"

"Live in New York?"

"Exactly," Britta said while nodding. Annie watched her squint at the web cam before she asked, "Hey, what's with that sweatshirt on your couch?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Annie asked. She moved her computer to the right; obstructing Britta's view.

"That red pull-over hoodie. The one with the picture of socks on it."

"Um, I don't...Pfftt. What are you talking about?" Annie asked. Her voice was shaky and rushed.

Britta's eyes widened. A smile crept across her face as she asked, "There was a guy at your apartment, wasn't there?"

"So what? I'm-I'm-"

"Did you guys do it?" Britta asked, still smiling wide.

Annie's face formed an incredulous expression, "Britta! Let's change the subject!"

"Nah, I don't think so."

Annie observed the background of Britta's surroundings. She asked, "Where are you?"

"Greendale, Colorado," Britta said and shrugged.

Annie rolled her eyes and said, "I know that. I mean, you're not at Troy and Abed's and there's a sage background behind you, not a forest green one."

"How the hell do you even notice the difference between forest green and sage?" Britta's smile faded. She narrowed her eyes and said, "I'm at my apartment."

"Really? You're never there, especially this late."

"Well, I needed to be here right now. Is that okay with you, Annie? Or do I need to ask the permission of a person who is a thousand miles away?"

"Sorry," Annie said, bobbing her head and smacking her lips.

"I'm sorry," Britta said and sighed, "That was pretty bitchy of me."

"It's okay."

They remained silent for almost a minute. Suddenly, Britta said, "He's at his old law firm, he still lives next to the Dean, and more importantly, he still hasn't told any of us what you two said to each other before you left and neither have you. That's what you wanted to know, isn't it?"

Annie bit her lip. "Ah, um, no. Why would you think I would care about what Jeff is doing? I mean I could just call him and ask him myself if I wanted to."

"Fine," Britta sighed. After a pause, she said, "So, tell me about this guy that you may or may not be screwing."

"I just met him, like, two weeks ago. We're not sleeping together," Annie said. Her lips pursed.

"Not yet," Britta smiled, nodding.

"Stop it," Annie said.

"Give me some details about him."

"Why? So you can tell everyone in the group? I'll get five text messages within the next five minutes."

"Yeah, and I'll get, like, twelve. Trust me, I don't need that right now," Britta said, "Come on, I wont say anything. I promise."

"Fine," Annie said and sighed, "His name is Chris. He's twenty-five. He works in investment management and that's pretty much all you need to know."

"That's great, Annie," Britta said, smiling. "I'm really happy for you. I mean, you haven't really dated a guy in, like, three years," she added with a mutter, "at least none that we have known about."

"Thanks- Wait! What did you just sa-"

"I mean, you really need a good-"

"Britta! Please, stop!"

"Okay, okay," Britta said, "so, have you gotten any visitors besides him, yet? You know, like, unexpected ones?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing," Britta said and shrugged.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Ah, no reason," Britta cleared her throat, "Um, have you-um-like, what kind of places does this Chris guy take you to?"

"That's not something you normally care about," Annie said. She narrowed her eyebrows a bit. "Whenever I brought up the lack of places you and Troy went to, you would tell me to shut up and say that dates were irrelevant to a relationship because of the patriarchal structure of them."

"I did? Pfft, really?" Britta asked, her forehead crinkled and she let out a nervous laugh.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm trying to take an interest in your life now that-"

"Now that you guys can't actively butt into it?'

"Exactly. So-"

"Britta? Something is wrong. I can tell."

"What do you mean?"

"Why aren't you at Troy's? It's pretty obvious that you are trying to-"

"Annie, I have to go. I have to work a morning shift."

"You still haven't found another job?"

"Nope and I gotta go. I'll talk to you later. Okay?"

"Mmhmm," Annie nodded.

"Listen," Britta said, "We really miss you, Annie. All of us do. Okay? _All of us_."

"I miss you guys too."

Britta became disconnected. The image of her faded to black on Annie's laptop. Annie sat cross legged on the area rug in the middle of her apartment. She stared at her cell phone in anticipation for text messages from the Study Group. After five minutes, she looked at her cellphone to see if it was on silent. It wasn't. She checked her inbox. It was empty.

* * *

"Abed, what are we doing here?" Jeff asked as he texted on his phone. He found himself sitting in Fenway Park and looking out of place, wearing a black v-neck, aviators and a pair of Hugo Boss jeans. He took a sip of his iced-coffee and leaned back in his seat. Abed, on the other hand, had tried to 'adapt,' and blend in by wearing Red-Sox jersey and baseball hat. He peered through the binoculars secured around his neck by a string and let his camera sit on his lap.

"Didn't you hear that guy Annie was holding hands with on the train?" Abed asked. He looked through the binoculars, scanning the crowded stadium.

"Not really. I was too busy imagining smashing his face in," Jeff said. He took another sip of his drink and sighed.

"Well, they're here right now," Abed said.

'What?" Jeff asked. He took off his sunglasses and looked over at Abed.

"Here, look directly into these binoculars," Abed said. He held the binoculars up the air for Jeff to look into.

Jeff looked into the binoculars and saw across the field. Annie was there sitting in the bleachers, next to that guy, laughing. He was sure it was her this time. Jeff's eyebrows furrowed and his face dropped. He rose from his seat with a tense grip on the binoculars.

"Hey, guy! Sit down my kid can't see!" someone behind him yelled.

Jeff sat down, slumped into his seat and crossed his arms. He asked, "What's the plan?"

"You're going to run across the field, interrupt the game and declare your love for Annie," Abed said.

"I'm not doing that," Jeff said.

"Jeff, it's perfect. It shows how you're willing to take risks to be with her."

"Isn't it risky enough that we have been technically stalking her for the past twenty-four hours?"

Abed shook his head as he looked into the viewfinder of his camera. He pointed it at Jeff and said, "This will show her that nothing stands in your way."

Jeff tilted his head at Abed and looked at him with suspicion. He asked, "Is this from a movie or something?"

The camera buzzed as Abed zoomed in on Jeff's face.

The man sitting next to Jeff tapped him on the shoulder and asked, "Hey, sahrry to interrupt yah, guy, but if yah ahre plannin' on pullin' a _Fevah Pitch_, heah... Nothin' good'll cahme outah it."

Jeff narrowed his eyes at Abed and then turned to the man next to him. He asked, "I'm sorry if I sound like a total idiot, but what is 'pullin' a_ Fever Pitch_?"

"Yah know, runnin' ahcrahss the fiehld and interruptin' the game to tell someone yah care 'bout somethin'? Yah know, from thah movie?"

Jeff turned back to Abed and asked, "What is _Fever Pitch_ about?"

"Jimmy Fallon is-"

"No!" Jeff said. He shook his head and continued to say, "I am not recreating a scene from a Jimmy Fallon movie."

"But Drew Barrymore is the one that does it."

"Even worse. Does she describe how 'magical,' the experience was?"

"Nice SNL reference. This will be perfect. Come on, Jeff."

"I am not recreating a scene from some movie with that hack Jimmy Fallon in it. Also, I don't think Annie has even seen it."

"Jeff, it's not about recreating the scene. It's about stirring up the emotions of immediacy; of not being able to bare another second without her. The game can wait because you can't live another moment without telling her."

Jeff felt the man next to him tap his shoulder again.

"I'm sahrry if I'm buttin' intah yah life, guy. Its just thaht, pullin' a _Fevah Pitch_ is a bahd ideah," the guy sitting next to them said, "See if yah crahss thaht field and security catches yah, yah'll get ahrrested for dahmestic terrahrism. If security doesn't catch yah, then thah fans will and trust me buddy, yah don't wahnt thaht. Yah'll getchah ass beat."

"Well, thank you, sir, for that information,"Jeff said to the man next to him and then turned back to Abed. "I am not doing this. Hell will have to freeze over twice for me to do this. There is nothing in this world that will get me to do this."

Abed gave the man sitting next to Jeff a form to sign, "Can you sign this release form, so I don't have to blur out your face?"

The man nodded and took the form from Abed.

"Cool," Abed nodded back.

Jeff snatched the binoculars from Abed's hands and focused back to looking at Annie. He watched her laughing, touching that guy's arm, and taking pictures. Then, he saw Annie kissing the guy. He stood up and gritted his teeth.

A person sitting behind him yelled, "Guy! Sit down for Christ's sake! My kid can't see!"

Jeff sat down. Still looking into the binoculars, he said to Abed, "I'm doing this."

"Actually, Jeff, I've been thinking this over and it probably is a bad idea. I have another plan."

* * *

"What are these breaks called again?" Annie asked.

"Half-inning breaks," Chris said.

"Oh," Annie nodded.

He turned to her smiling and said, "The best thing about these are the fights that usually happen."

"Fights?"

"Yeah, people tend to get pretty restless and yell at each other. Its kind of hysterical."

"I bet..." Annie said. She crinkled her forehead, "I'm going to get something to drink. Do you want anything?"

"Ah, you're so sweet. Nah, I'm fine. You want me to go instead and get you somethin'?"

She smiled back at him and said, "No, its okay. I'll go."

* * *

"I need to do this, now," Jeff said.

"Seriously, don't do this," Abed said, "If you do, you'll be tackled by security and our cover will be blown."

Jeff stood up, looked down at Abed and said, "I'm willing to risk it."

"Guy! Sit the fuck down, man!" the person sitting behind him yelled, "My kid can't see!"

Jeff looked behind him and yelled back, "You always swear in front of your kid?"

"Only when it's warranted," the man sitting behind him said and then stood up, facing Jeff.

"There's nothing even happening! The players are just standing there! What does your kid need to see right now? There's like a break or a time out or something."

* * *

Annie went up to the counter of the concession stand and stared at the menu. Her eyes scanned over the pictures of the food and then on the prices. She began to open her mouth, but she paused and tilted her head.

"Are you gonna order?" the concession stand worker asked.

"Can I have a beer, please."

"I.D."

Annie took her I.D. out of her wallet and gave it to the kid.

He looked at it very closely and then very far away.

"This is out of state."

"I know, but-"

"But technically I'm not supposed to serve individuals under twenty-five without an instate I.D. See I just got this job and-"

"Please," Annie said, "This is the only way I'm going to get through this extremely boring, mundane, stale, unwatchable-whatever the hell is happening in this sport right now. I mean they're just standing there!"

"Boyfriend take you here?" the guy asked her.

"Yeah," Annie nodded with a frown.

"Alright," the kid sighed, "Usually we're pretty lenient, but- you know, I just, I can't lose this job."

"Thank you," Annie said and handed him a crisp twenty dollar bill.

"Yeah," he handed Annie her change and the drink.

Annie stood in front of the concession stand. With a listless stare, she focused on the cup of beer in her hand.

"Are you gonna drink it?" the concession guy asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking."Annie looked up from her cup and at the concession guy, "The truth is-is I'm stalling. I don't really even drink beer."

"Oh."

"You see, I just moved here-"

"I figured that with the out of state license."

"And- and I'm trying to, well, try new things, I guess?"

* * *

"My kid came here to see Fenway Park! Not some hipster idiot who is obsessively spying on his ex-girlfriend. Good riddance for her, man!"

"Hipster idiot?" Jeff narrowed his eyes at the man.

"Jeff," Abed said with his eye on the viewfinder, "Maybe you should calm down?"

"You're not from around here are you? Midwest? Go back there where everyone is all hunky dory with each other. Welcome to Boston, man!" the man behind them yelled.

"Listen," Jeff said, "I may be from he Midwest, but-"

The man threw his beer in Jeff's face.

Jeff opened his eyes and asked, "Really? You really had to throw a drink in my face?"

"Jeff?" Abed asked.

"What, Abed?" Jeff yelled back.

"Security is coming."

* * *

"Where was I? Oh yeah! And-and do you know what's happening now?" Annie asked.

The concession guy shook his head.

"I-I think I'm seeing him places. Like yesterday, I was walking down Beacon Street and I turned around for the smallest second and- and I swear I saw him. I swear it! So I did a double take and-and guess what?"

"What?" the concession guy deadpanned.

"He wasn't there! And I wanted him to be there so badly. I never should have said the things I said to him before I left. I don't think I-"

"Girl?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I have no one else to tell these things to! I mean, you know I can't tell Britta-"

"I don't know who Brit-"

"Because Britta would try to analyze the entire situation and hold some stupid group therapy thing to fix it!"

"Is this Brittany a therapist?"

"It's Britta-"

"Oh, like the water filter?"

"Yes, and no, she's the farthest thing from a therapist. I mean, I can't tell Abed, who would probably trick Jeff into performing movie homages-"

"What's an homa-"

"And I can't even tell Shirley,"

"I don't know who Shirley-"

"Because Shirley would probably disapprove in the first place, especially after, well, never mind. But she would tell Jeff, who would probably tell Britta by mistake because for some reason she is just so damn good at accidentally tricking him into confessing things- accidentally is the key word there- and then Britta would make him-"

"Girl?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you really like this new boyfriend of yours or do you spend all of your time thinking about this other guy?

"I don't know," she said. She looked down at the ground.

"You know what you should do?"

Annie shook her head.

"Go back to your new boyfriend, kiss him and see if you feel anything. See if you feel the same way as it was with that-what was his name?"

"Jeff."

"Yeah, that Jeff guy. Whatever you two said to each other before you left couldn't have been that bad, right?"

* * *

The people sitting in Jeff's section began yelling, "It was that guy," and pointed at him.

Abed's camera hummed, indicating he was zooming out. Jeff's hands clenched into fists as he narrowed his eyes at Abed. The security guards came over and grabbed Jeff by the arms.

"I didn't do anything," Jeff said.

"Come on, guy," the security guard said, "we don't need you antagonizing the fans."

"I wasn't antagonizing anyone! Did you see that guy throw his drink at me? The one with the kid?" Jeff pointed at the man behind him.

"You seriously think we would believe a guy would do that in front of his kid?"

"I don't know?" Jeff said. Security began to pull Jeff by the arm. He turned to Abed and asked, "Are you coming?"

The camera droned as Abed zoomed in on Jeff's face and said, "I'll meet you at the gate we came in. I need to get the guy sitting behind you to sign a release form."

"Are you serious?" Jeff asked. He began walking away with security.

"Yeah, I'll see you later," Abed waved with his eye fixed on the viewfinder.

* * *

"You guys said _that_ to each other?"

Annie nodded.

The concession guy cringed and said, "Maybe you should forget about this Jeff guy and move on?"

"You think?"

"That's a pretty hard thing to recover from."

"Yeah, it is." Annie said.

"But what do I know? I live with my mom."

Annie's phone vibrated. She looked at the text and said, "I gotta go back to my seat. Thanks for listening."

"No problem, Girl. Good luck."

* * *

Abed and Jeff sat in the car of the train as they went back to the center of the city where their hotel was.

"So, Jeff, how does it feel to get kicked out of Fenway Park?" Abed asked. He focused the camera on Jeff, who sat in one of the plastic, blue and tan seats next to him.

"Shitty," Jeff said. He looked into the camera and said, "That was a stupid idea. I don't know why I listen to you!"

"You don't have to listen to me," Abed said, "It was merely a suggestion."

Jeff's phone vibrated. Abed panned the camera to Jeff's hands and zoomed in. Jeff looked at the text and sighed. "Abed, what did I say about the zoom sound?"

"Do you have an idea for your next course of action?" Abed asked as he zoomed out to capture Jeff's full body.

"Not unless it involves getting on a plane and going home."

"That's good, because I, on the other hand, do."

"Abed does it involve another movie or TV homage?"

"Maybe."

Jeff sighed and asked, "Does it involve a Ben Affleck movie?"

"No," Abed said.

"Alright, good."

* * *

Annie entered her apartment, followed by Chris.

"Thanks, for, um, coming back," Annie said, bobbing her head up and down as she walked down the hallway and into her living room.

"Yeah, no problem," Chris said.

"Um, I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back," Annie said. She disappeared into the bathroom.

There was a knock. Chris walked down the narrow hallway and opened the turquoise door.

"Hey, we're not interested in going to your friend's concert or his DJ show. No paint parties, no poetry slams, or art gallery stuff or- what else do you hipster people like? Oh yeah and I don't believe in furniture made from stuff outah a dumpster."

"I'm not a hipster and there are people who can make amazing coffee tables from recyclable materials," The blonde woman at the door narrowed her eyes at him, "Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I asked you first," Britta said and began to walk into the apartment.

"So? And I'm not letting a total stranger into my girlfriend's apartment." Chris began to close the door, but Britta wedged her foot between the frame and the door. "Lady! What are you doing?"

"You are not shutting the door in my face!"

"What the hell? Who do you think you are?"

"I'm Britta! And I'm in that picture hanging on the wall behind you, douchebag! You-"

Annie walked out of the bathroom and asked, "Why is there yelling?" She looked up and saw Britta, "Britta!" She ran over to Britta and gave her a hug. Britta narrowed her eyes at Chris over Annie's shoulder. Annie tilted her head and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Britta shrugged and forced a smile, "Vacation?"


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: Thanks for follows/reviews! I do not own _Community_.

* * *

Britta looked at her phone and rolled her eyes. She sat on one end of Annie's couch and Chris sat on the other. Britta rested her elbow on the armrest and set down her cellphone on the coffee table. Her head tilted the right and her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she looked over at Chris.

"How old are you?' Britta asked.

"Twenty -five."

"College?"

"Yeah, B.A. in economics from Boston College."

"Like your job?"

"Yeah."

"What do you do?"

"Investment management."

"Drugs?"

"No."

"Ever been arrested?

"No!"

"Hobbies?"

"Why are you interrogating me?"

"Hobbies?"

"No, really, who do you think you are?"

"Hobbies?" Britta said again. Her tone harsher.

"Golf, um, I don't know?"

Annie came out of her bedroom and sat between Britta and Chris on the couch.

"Congratulations, Annie, you've managed to find the most boring person in the State of Massachusetts."

"Coming from you, that's a compliment," Annie said. "So, why exactly are you here...on vacation?"

"There's, ah, um, ah,um,um... a Guster show!" Britta nodded and snapped her fingers, "Ah-huh, that's exactly why I'm here. Guster is playing here tomorrow night."

"O-kay," Annie narrowed her eyebrows, "Who is Guster?"

"You know, they sing that song, _When I speak I cross my fingers/Will you know you've been deceived?/I find a need to be the demon-_You know?"

"No, I've never heard that song," Annie said.

"I've heard it," Chris said, "But I don't recall the lead singer being that off-key."

"Well, it's a good song. So, Annie, like, hows everything going on here and such?"

"You asked me that last night on Skype, literally, less than twenty-four hours ago."

"Oh, yeah, I did. Didn't I?" Britta's forehead crinkled, "Hey, here's an idea! Why don't you come to the show with me? Guster is opening for the Bare Naked Ladies! We could Tweet about it and piss off Jeff!"

"Who is-" Chris began to say.

"Let me think about it!" Annie said. She got up from the couch and went into the kitchen area. Annie turned the sink faucet on and began to fumble with some dishes; scrubbing them with relentless determination.

Britta got up from the couch, ignoring the presence of Chris and stood next to Annie. She looked down at Annie's hands in the sink. "Those dishes look really clean."

"There are spots."

"I don't see any spots."

"They'll appear on the dish when it dries." Annie grabbed a green brush from her dish rack and began to scrub the plate in her hands with a harsh, circular motion.

* * *

Shirley stood in her kitchen surrounded by bowls full of chocolate brownie mix. She heard a knock and opened her front door.

"Shirley?"

"Troy?"

"Can-can I come in, please?"

"Of course," Shirley said, "Wh-what is wrong? I mean, why are you- I mean, come into my kitchen."

Troy sat at the kitchen island and looked at the bowls of chocolate batter on the kitchen table, "C-can I eat this?"

"Actually-"

"Thanks," Troy took the wooden spoon from the bowel and began to eat the brownie batter.

"So, how is-"

"Britta and I broke up!" Troy began to hold back tears, "and-and I have nobody to talk to about it because Annie moved to Boston and-and Jeff went after her and-and Abed went with him and-and- I don't have eight hundred dollars for plane tickets to get there and talk to them and come back."

"Okay, okay, let's calm down for a minute," Shirley said.

"Th-this is good special drink, even though it's a little thick."

"It's brownie batter."

"Oh, well in that case, it needs more chocolate chips or-maybe caramel? C-caramel would be nice."

"What happened?"

"We-we were just sitting there and-and we got into, like, what I thought was a small argument because sometimes we get into little arguments about stupid things and-and suddenly she got out of my bed-"

Shirley narrowed her eyes at him.

"I-mean- the, um, the- b-b-bed?"

Shirley sighed, "I already know you two are doing immoral things! Just continue!"

"Sorry," Troy looked into the bowl of brownie batter, "Anyway, like, sh-she got up and said-said she wanted a break."

"Sweetie, what did you two argue about?"

"I can't even remember! That's how stupid it was."

"First Jeff and Annie? Now you and Britta? What is this a Soap Opera?"

"I dunno," Troy said, "Can-can I sleep on your couch tonight? I don't like being in the apartment all alone. Its-its sad without Abed and Annie."

"Of course," Shirley nodded with a sympathetic smile.

* * *

Britta sat on the floor of the living room; holding a fan of cards in her hands and sitting in front of a glass of wine. She lit up a cigarette.

"Britta!" Annie glared at her.

"Sorry, should I go outside?"

"I thought you quit smoking?"

"People quit and restart a lot of things."

"You're being ridiculous," Annie shook her head and focused on the cards in her hands, "You're going to kill yourself. Do I need to show you a picture of a lung infected with cancer?"

"I have to go," Chris said as he looked at the time on his cell phone, "I have to feed my dog."

"Gosh darn and we were all having so much fun, too," Britta said.

"Yeah, sitting here next to a hostile hipster has most definitely been the highlight of my day," Chris said, forcing a smile.

"I'll walk you to the train," Annie said and sighed. As she followed Chris down the narrow hallway, she turned around walking backwards and glared at Britta while shaking her head.

Annie walked down the stairs to her building and out to the street. Chris grasped her hand in his as they walked down the street to the T-stop.

"I'm sorry about her," Annie said, "She doesn't warm up to people right away. Anyway, she'll be gone by the end of the week."

"It's okay."

"I wasn't expecting her. I-I think something's wrong with her-"

"I think there are a lot of things wrong with-"

"Chris!"

"I'm just kidding. I bet she's great once you get to know her."

"I think she's having issues with her boyfriend."

"Your friend Troy?'

"Yeah,"Annie nodded.

"Who is Jeff?" Chris asked, "She mentioned some Jeff guy hating the Bare Naked Ladies, which is, like, crazy. Who could hate the best Canadian rock band of the mid-nineties?"

"I know, right? Anyway, he's um- he's just this- um guy who is friends with Britta. Yeah, they-um like to bother the living hell out of each other."

"So that wasn't the worst she could be to a person?" Chris laughed.

"No," Annie sighed, "Really, though, I think she's just having some issues and-and has come here because she's running away from her problems. Hopefully, I can help her with whatever is wrong with her and Troy by the end of the week."

"It's alright. We'll just have to hang out at my apartment for the rest of the week."

"Um-yeah. That's what we'll have to do."

"You wanna do something later? Or do you have to entertain Courtney Love up there?"

Annie stopped walking. Her feet cemented to the ground. She felt her arm tugged by Chris.

"Annie?" he turned around, "Are you okay?"

"Mmhm," she nodded.

"Was it something I said?"

"No," Annie shook her head. She pushed her shoulders back regaining her posture, "That was just a-a-inter-well, a good and pretty accurate reference, I guess?"

"I was just trying to keep up with you. You fire off references like they're lines written for you," He pulled her closer, taking her in his arms, "So, I take it we aren't hanging out later?"

Annie shook her head, "Sorry."

"It's okay," He leaned in and pecked her on the lips. "I'll text you later, alright?"

"Okay, pat McMurphy behind the ears for me," Annie nodded.

She stood still on the sidewalk and watched Chris walk away. She closed her eyes and pushed her hair behind her ears. As she opened her eyes, she unlocked her phone and pressed the touchscreen, opening her Twitter app.

Jeff hadn't tweeted in over thirty hours.

She walked up the stairs and back to her apartment. Annie stood in her living room, staring at Britta, who was looking through kitchen cabinets like nothing was wrong.

"Man, sucks that Chris had to leave," Britta said as she looked in the fridge.

"You scared him away!" Annie said. She began to pace back and forth in her living room. Her fingers rubbing her temple, "What is wrong, Britta?"

"Nothing," Britta turned around and looked at Annie. "I just came here to see you. Its weird not having you around."

Annie sighed, "Okay, just, please, do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Just, try to get along with Chris."

"Okay," Britta nodded. Her lips pursed together. She closed her eyes and asked, "Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Fine," Annie nodded and sat down on her couch. "You can pick it." She slumped down her seat and looked up at the ceiling as Britta went over to her bookcase.

"What do we have here?" Britta asked. She crouched down on the floor, "_Shutter Island_? Nah. Hmm, _13 Going on 30_? Can you say the epitome of all romantic comedy cliches? _Reservation Road_? Never mind, looks boring. _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_? Wait, I remember seeing this in theaters and having no fucking idea what was going on!"

"Just pick something!"

"Sorry," Britta squinted her eyes and laughed, "_Anger Management_? You have _Anger Management_?"

"Pick something, please." Annie sighed. Something vibrated on her end table. She picked up her phone and scrolled down to look at the old messages in her inbox. "Britta, I think someone texted you. My inbox is empty."

"I'll look at it later." Still crouched down on the ground, Britta carelessly waved her hand at Annie. "_Carnal Knowledge_? _The Departed_? _Chinatown_? _As Good as it Gets_? _The Shining_?" Britta took the DVD out of the bookcase, held it up in the air and presented it to Annie. Britta's mouth parted slightly and she narrowed her eyes at Annie. She tilted her head and said, "You have _The Shining_, Annie? You hate scary movies."

"Chris really likes Jack Nicholson." Annie sighed and asked, "Are you going to pick something?"

"It looks like I have to choose between Jack Nicholson movies and Mark Ruffalo romcoms."

"Not all of Mark Ruffalo's movies are romcoms and I didn't have to buy movies when I lived with Troy and Abed. So, I don't really have much."

"Wait a minute," Britta snickered, "What happened to all of your Zac Efron movies?"

"They're in a box somewhere," Annie shook her head while closing her eyes, "Just put in _What Doesn't Kill You_."

Britta walked over to the couch as she examined the DVD case in her hands. "Hey! I love Ethan Hawke!"

"I figured you would," Annie rolled her eyes.

Britta sat next to Annie and looked at her, "So, are you going to the show with me tomorrow? Think about how much a tweet from the BNL show would piss off Je-"

"Yes! I will go," Annie's eyes blinked rapidly.

"Speaking of things being wrong with people-"

"We dropped that topic," Annie said.

"Despite not knowing what you and Jeff said to each other, I feel that I know what your problem is."

"Come on," Annie sighed and looked into the wine glass in front of her on the coffee table, "You are not thera-"

"Oh, but I am. See, you have the secure attachment style in a relationship and Jeff has the ambiva-"

"We are not doing this!" Annie got up off her couch and went back into the kitchen. She took out a broom and dustpan from the cupboard and began to sweep the floor.

Britta got up off the couch and said, "I'm gonna leave and give you some space because my summer online course book, 'Therapist-Patient Relationships: A Good Thing,' says-"

"Didn't Duncan write that atrociously titled book?" Annie asked.

"Ye-ah, but that's not the point. Just remember, if you need to talk to me, I'm here." Britta began to walk out of the apartment, "We can watch a movie later."

"Okay, thank-you," Annie said. She had a tight grip on the broom handle and her gaze was fixed on the floor. When she heard the front door close, she dropped the broom and ran over to her laptop. She kneeled next to the coffee table. "Please, Shirley, be on Skype." Annie checked her Skype, but Shirley was off line.

Annie took her phone out of her sweater and sent Shirley a text message.

**Annie**: Britta is here. Yes, here in Boston. I think something happened between her and Troy. Please, text me back when you can.

* * *

"Abed?" Jeff looked up over his menu and glared at Abed, "Is it necessary to film me as I eat dinner?"

"Yes," Abed nodded. "I'm trying to capture your angst from your failure today. You know? Your failed attempt to perform a Grand Romantic Gesture slash Public Declaration of Love for Annie. It provides context for the audience."

"Stop talking about context!" Jeff set his menu down and closed his eyes. He sighed and asked, "Why are you filming me do this stuff anyway?"

"Just thought it would be a good subject to film," Abed said, "Do you want to know what my next idea is?"

"What?" Jeff leaned back in his seat and folded his arms.

Abed pulled out two concert tickets from his pocket. He slid one across the table to Jeff.

"Guster! Wait-no!" Jeff looked at the ticket and narrowed his eyes, "Why did you just pass me Bare Naked Ladies tickets? No, Abed! No! No! No! Never in a million years am I going to-"

"Have you seen the movie _Ted_?"

"What do you think?"

"No?"

"Abed, you know how I feel about the overuse of cut-away jokes in _Family Guy_. Seth McFarlane ruined a great show with them."

"Well, Mark Wahlberg-"

"No Marky-Mark movies!"

"You said no Ben Affleck movies-"

"Mark Wahlberg too."

"Even _The Departed_?"

"Yes."

"_Boogie Nights_?"

"What the hell am I supposed to re-create from _Boogie Nights_?"

"Nothing. I was just making a point that Mark Walberg is in some great films."

"I don't care."

"But the scene from _Ted_ is perfect."

"Figure something else out."

Abed set his camera down and looked at his cell phone.

"Who are you texting?" Jeff asked.

"It doesn't matter," Abed said as he put his phone in his pocket. He picked the camera up and focused on Jeff, "Pay homage to this scene. Its perfect."

* * *

The next morning, Troy woke up to the sounds of _Tom and Jerry_ on Shirley's living room television. He rubbed his eyes and saw Elijah sitting on the floor and laughing at Jerry relentlessly bother Tom.

"You do know that Jerry is mean?" Troy asked.

"But Tom is trying to eat Jerry," Elijah said.

Troy tilted his head and said, "But the taunting just makes Tom want to eat Jerry more." He looked at an envelope sitting on the end table with his name written on it in loopy, neat cursive. He opened the envelope and said, "No way!"

* * *

Jeff stood backstage, pacing back and forth. "Abed, how the hell did you organize this?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Stop saying that!"

"You said it first."

Jeff shook his head, "So what am I doing?"

"In _Ted_, Mark Wahlberg is trying to apologize to his girlfriend, so he gets on stage and tries to serenade her. The only difference is that they were at the Hatch Shell."

"Did it work?"

Abed remained silent.

"Abed, did it work?"

"No, but I think this will work for you."

Jeff sighed and said, "I am not singing a Bare Naked Ladies song. I don't know any of them."

"What do you want to sing?"

* * *

Annie and Britta stood in the crowd at the Boston Harbor Lights Pavilion. Guster was playing, 'Amsterdam.'

Between songs, Britta commented to Annie, "Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see BNL, but I miss Steven Page."

"Who?' Annie asked.

"Never mind," Britta said.

'Satellite,' began to play and the crowd started to cheer.

Annie's phone vibrated. She took it out of her sweater and looked at the text.

"Annie, using cell phones during a show disrupts the-"

"Oh, no," Annie gasped and put her hand over her mouth, "Chris' dog is really sick."

"Is it okay?" Britta asked.

"I don't know. I'm gonna have to go and help him. I'm so sorry."

"Alrig-Wait!" Britta's eyes widened, "You can't leave yet!"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Annie began to navigate through the crowd towards the exit.

"Annie! Wait! Just two more songs! Two more!" Britta grabbed Annie by the arm.

"I have to go, Britta," Annie said as she shook off Britta's grip from her arm, "If you want to stay, go ahead."

Britta leaned her head back and sighed.

'Either Way,' played, as Britta watched Annie leave the venue.

When the song ended, the lead singer on stage said, "This guy Jeff is gonna sing a song for this girl."

Britta turned around and said, "Shit."

On stage, Jeff said, "Truthfully, I hate the Bare Naked Ladies-"

Everyone began to "boo."

"But I love Guster and I think this song relates to the last words exchanged between me and Annie. Annie, I know your here and I just needed to come here and tell you that; You were right. You were right about everything you said. Its just that, I was scared and I shouldn't have been. I didn't know- wait, not know, but realize it until you actually left. I'm sorry. Its just that-"

Britta tuned out Jeff's speech as she frantically texted on her phone. "The one time he doesn't have his phone!" She clenched the cell phone in her hand and crinkled her forehead.

'Two Points for Honesty,' started to play. Jeff gulped and he closed his eyes.

"Shit, shit, shit," Britta shook her head.

Jeff began to sweat. He stood there holding the mic with two hands and singing slightly off-key.

"Hey, dude," a guy standing next to Britta said to his friend, "What if this Annie chick isn't here and doesn't forgive him?"

"Ah, dude, that would suck for him, but be wicked awesome to watch. I gotta film this." The guy's friend took out his Iphone.

"Shit," Britta cringed. She sighed and shook her head. Suddenly, she began pushing through the crowd and towards the stage. "Annie here!" she began to say as she passed by people. "Damn that Chris," she muttered under her breath with disdain.

She made it to the first row during the short guitar solo. Jeff saw her. His eyes bugged out and he scowled at her. He motioned for the lead singer of Guster to take over and sing.

Britta motioned with her hands for him to smile. "Smile," she mouthed to him. Then she pointed at herself, "Pretend I'm Annie."

Jeff shook his head at her.

"She's not here," Britta shook her head and pointed at the ground.

Jeff sighed and then motioned for Britta to come on stage. The song ended and Britta was handed the mic.

"Wow!" Britta forced a smile, "I'm sure people named Annie, like me for instance, would most definitely accept an apology like this. Too bad not everyone named Annie could be here because some people named Annie had to leave because of pet related emergencies."

"Britta," Jeff said through his teeth with a forced smile, "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your ass from embarrassment. You want your failure to be all over Youtube?" Britta said, also through her teeth, with a forced smile, "I think we all know this potentially could have ruined your ego forever, if it didn't work out."

"Where's Annie?" Jeff asked. His painful, forced smile was still plastered across his face.

"Her boyfriend's dog got really sick," Britta said. Her faux smile still fixed in place.

"Then why are you here?" Jeff asked through his still fixed smile as they were escorted off stage.

"I came with Annie," Britta said through her teeth as she waved to the audience.

Once they were backstage, Jeff glowered at Abed, who held a camera, and said, "This, all of this, is getting way too out of hand!" He turned to Britta who was behind him and asked,"Britta! What the hell are you doing here?"

"To see Guster and the Bare Naked Ladies. Dah-doy!"

"No! I mean in the State of Massachusetts!"

"I'm on vacation-"

"Vacation from what? You don't have a real job and you still go to Greendale and its your summer break."

"Everyone needs vacations and apparently this one was well worth a four hundred dollar plane ticket. I didn't think I would live to see you attend a Bare Naked Ladies show." Britta smirked and took a picture of Jeff with her phone.

"What the hell? Don't take a picture!"

"Abed already has it on film," Britta pointed towards the camera.

"Do not Tweet that!" Jeff said with wide eyes.

"Don't worry, I wont blow your cover to Annie. Besides, if you recall, Danny McCall-"

"David McCall," Abed said.

"Whatever," Britta rolled her eyes, "I don't have a data plan and can't go on the internet."

"I am not stalking Annie! I'm trying to make her forgive me! How long did it take you to think up that irrelevant _Fear_ reference? Jeff asked.

"It may or may not have been playing on F/X this morning, but that's not the-"

"Britta!"

"What?"

"What are you really doing here?" Jeff tipped his head at her.

"I told you, a vacation to see Guster and BNL."

"People don't travel across country to see Guster and the Bare Naked Ladies."

"Well, Jeff, apparently you don't appreciate the beauty in their lyrics."

Jeff shook his head, "Fine, we" he pointed back and forth at himself and Abed, "are leaving." He began to walk away.

"W-wait! Wait a sec! I-I know the dude's name. His full name!" Britta smiled and nodded, "You ready for some Goldfingering?"

"It's Goldbluming," Abed said.

The Bare Naked Ladies took their place on stage and 'If I Had a Million Dollars' played. Jeff began to walk away. He suddenly yelled, "Dijon ketchup isn't real!" He stopped, turned around, sighed and asked, "What's his name?"


	4. Chapter 4

a/n: I do not own _Community_. Also, thanks for reviews/follows.

* * *

Britta struggled fitting the extra key Annie gave her into the lock of the turquoise door. As she entered the apartment, she hit her knee on the table in the narrow hallway and swore under her breath. Britta looked straight ahead and noticed a small light radiating from Annie's living room. She emerged from the narrow hallway and saw Annie pacing back and forth; looking down at the ground. Annie had a wine glass in her hand and was shaking her head.

"Annie?' Britta asked. She tilted her head. Her forehead crinkled as she set her purse down on the hardwood floor.

Annie stopped pacing back and forth. She stood still, but her knees were shaking. She looked up from the ground and at Britta, "Oh, hi. How, um, was the rest of, um, the concert?"

"Let's just say you missed the show of your life."

Annie's eyes shifted towards the kitchen. She set the wine glass down on her coffee table and sat in a chair. She said softly,"That's too bad." She leaned forward and began to rub her temples with her hand.

"Is that dude Chris' dog alright? Britta asked. She bit her bottom lip as she observed Annie sigh.

Annie nodded and uncrossed her legs; keeping her knees together as her ankles pointed out in different directions. She motioned a careless wave, "Yeah, his dog will be fine. We took him to the animal hospital for some tests. We were there for, like, four hours. Chris just dropped me off fifteen minutes ago."

"Are..._you_..fine? Britta asked. She walked over to Annie; dragging her feet across the floor and careful to not rush over. She sat down on the couch and looked at Annie sitting in the chair.

Annie looked up at Britta. Her brow furrowed; creating stressed lines across her forehead. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

Britta cringed at the words about to leave her mouth, "Well-"

"Don't go there. Don't even begin to go there. If you go there, I will-"

"Annie!"

"I'm sorry," Annie's voice sounded hoarse. She stood up from the chair and looked down at Britta; tilting her head slowly back and forth. Her eyelashes quivered, until she closed her eyes. She breathed in deep and said as she exhaled, "I-I should be happy."

"And you aren't?"

"I don't think so..." Annie sat down on the couch, next to Britta.

"Do you want to go ba-"

"I can't now," Annie said. Her eyes focused on the picture of her friends hanging in the hallway. She asked softly, "Di-did you know that I was sleeping with Jeff?"

"No..." Britta said with a whisper. She held a vacant stare as she looked straight ahead.

Annie laid her head on Britta's shoulder. Britta felt Annie's soft hand grasp her own.

"It started after the Hunger Deans," Annie said.

"Oh," Britta's gaze was still fixed straight ahead.

"But, um, then-um," Annie sniffed her nose, "Then-then eventually it stopped."

Britta's forehead crinkled. She looked down at Annie's head on her shoulder and began to ask, "Why didn't any-"

"Anyone notice?"

"Yeah?"

Annie shrugged and clung tighter to Britta, "We all tend to ignore the things we don't want to be true."

"But-but, Annie-"

"It's okay," Annie looked up and locked eyes with Britta, "when-when it stopped, I applied to graduate school. Except, I-I didn't think I would be able to afford it, but-but then I got that scholarship, which I-I don't even really deserve-"

"Don't say that."

"It's tru-"

"Annie! Don't you fucking say that!" Britta sighed and grabbed Annie's hand with both of her own.

After a silence, Annie said, "I'm glad you came, Britta. Even though it's because of you and Troy- Oh, my God. I didn't mean it like that."

"It's okay...How did you know?" Britta asked.

"Shirley told me and your behavior has been anything but subtle."

"Oh," Britta nodded and closed her eyes. She remained silent.

"You're not going to try to therapize me?" Annie asked.

"No," Britta shook her head. "...You don't need me to be a therapist right now."

"Does Duncan's book say that?" Annie sniffed her nose.

"I don't know... I only read the first half of the first chapter," Britta let out a small laugh. After a pause, she said, "Annie, it's going to be okay."

"Are you okay, Britta?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'm fine," Britta's lips formed into a weak smile. "It's just-well sometimes things just run their course-God, I didn't mean it like-"

"It's alright," Annie said.

After a pause, Britta asked, "You still haven't slept with Chris, have you?"

"No," Annie shook her head.

Britta gulped. She closed her eyes and said, "Listen, there's something that I really need to-well, that I should-"

"Britta?"

Britta felt the sleeve of her shirt become damp. Annie was crying.

"Y-yeah?" Britta asked. She stroked Annie's hair to calm her.

"He's never going to speak to me again. I mean, if you heard what I said to him-"

"Annie, what did you say to Jeff? You can tell me."

Annie sat up on the couch and looked at Britta. She wiped the tears from underneath her eyes and said, "It's too horrible."

"Annie, he-he's"

"Don't make excuses for him."

"I'm not. It's just that I promised and...this-this is not my 'thing, to say' and," Britta crinkled her forehead, "I just wish I could tell you-

"He has every right to be upset with me."

"The thing is, is that I don't think he is-"

"You weren't there," Annie shook her head. She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes.

"...I need to lie down. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay," Britta nodded.

Annie slid off the couch and walked into her bedroom.

* * *

The next morning, Britta sat on the living room floor with her back against the couch. She was eating a bowl of cereal, which rested on the coffee table in front of her, as she watched the news.

_In lighter news, a Youtube video of a man serenading his ex-girlfriend at a Bare Naked Ladies concert has become a viral sensation. _

"Shit," Britta dropped her spoon in the cereal bowl. The clanking noise caused her to shudder. The door to Annie's room opened. Britta immediately turned off the television, "Morning, Annie!"

Half-awake and dressed in a pale blue nightgown, Annie rubbed her eyes and asked, "Since when have you been this cheery in the morning?"

"Since when have you not been cheery-sorry," Britta cringed, "I shouldn't have said that, especially after last-"

"Let's not talk about it," Annie sighed and sat on the couch.

"Okay," Britta nodded.

Annie's hands began to reach for her laptop on the coffee table. Britta's eyes bugged and as a reaction, she hit the bowl of cereal, spilling the contents all over the laptop.

Annie looked at the laptop soaked with milk and tried to turn it on without success. "What the hell!" She stood up and stared at the laptop, "I have to register for classes tomorrow! And if I don't register tomorrow, I'll never get into Bloodstain Pattern Analysis..."

"I-I'll pay for it! It will be fixed by tomorrow," Britta said. "Um, why don't you go to work and while you're there, I'll get it fixed." She forced a smiled.

Annie crinkled her forehead and sighed, "Fine." She got up and went back into her room.

"Fuck," Britta muttered as she frantically typed on her phone to Abed.

**Britta: **We r fucked. turn on te news. Ive taken car of her computer but wat about her phone?

**Abed: **Don't worry. I've hacked into her Twitter and got her account disabled.

**Britta: **What a bout the internet on her phone. Wat if she sees something on her phone?

**Abed: **She's on me and Troy's family plan. I'm putting our account on hold as we speak. It will cut her off from communicating with anyone until this Youtube thing dies down.

* * *

"You owe me eight-hundred dollars," Britta said with a death stare as she handed the broken laptop to Jeff. They stood on Arlington Street, across from the Boston Public Gardens.

"What?" Jeff asked. He wore his aviator sunglasses, a white T-shirt and had five o'clock shadow.

"You and I are a Youtube sensation and I had to break Annie's laptop, so she wouldn't see it."

"You're kidding?"

"Oh, I wish I was," Britta said with half-laugh. "Abed didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"About the video, on Youtube?"

"No, he did not," Jeff glared into Abed's camera. He turned to Britta and asked, "Britta, why didn't you say anything to me? I mean it's not like it would have been that hard."

"What does that mean?" Abed asked.

"What does what mean?' Jeff asked.

"What you just said to Britta," Abed said.

"About her telling me about the thing on Youtube?"

"Yeah."

"I don't get what you're asking," Jeff said. He tilted his head as he looked into the camera.

"What I'm trying to ask is-"

"So, what's the new plan Aimee Mann?" Britta interrupted. She felt her phone vibrate. She took out her phone and looked at the text.

"Alright-so, the next course of action is-" Abed began to say.

"Wait," Britta said, "Shirley would like for me to say, 'Tell that boy to just damn call her. This is ridiculous. Tell Jeffrey I will smack him upside the head if he keeps trying these outrageous stunts to apologize to Annie. Also, you and Troy-' Wait never mind about that last bit."

"Okay," Abed continued, "So, my next plan entails-"

"Shirley is right," Jeff said, "I'm just going to call her."

"You can't now. Her phone's disconnected, thanks to Abed," Britta said.

"Then I'll go to her apartment," Jeff said.

"She's at work." Britta said.

"Where does she work?"

"I'm not telling you," Britta said. "Wait until she's home. Give the poor girl some space. If you go to where she works, she'll just be embarrassed. This is not something she should have to deal with there. You should see-"

"Remind me why you are here again? The Guster show is over," Jeff said.

"I'm helping."

"Because that always works?" Jeff asked sarcastically.

"No because Annie shouldn't be stalked like she's your prey. You have to be careful not to further disrupt her emotional-"

"Why must you make everything about you and your therapizing?" Jeff sighed.

"I do not do that!" Britta said.

"Then why are you-"

"You're an ass," Britta said. She turned to Abed and narrowed her eyes, "Are you filming this"

"Of course," Abed said, "your argumentative dynamic will build tension until-"

"There he is!" Jeff said.

"That," Abed deadpanned.

Jeff grabbed Britta by the shirt and pulled her into an ally. Abed followed them.

Jeff peaked over the brick wall and said, "There he is."

"Who?" Britta asked as she peaked over the wall.

"Chris," Jeff said with distaste as his nose scrunched up.

"I don't see him," Britta said.

"He's wearing the Brooks Brothers suit," Jeff said.

"Oh, now I see," Britta said sarcastically. She shoved Jeff's shoulder, "Do you know how many brunette douchebags are wearing suits on this street? Like I know the difference between one from Brooks Brothers and one from Hugo Boss."

Abed peeked over the side of the brick wall. He kneeled on the ground underneath Britta and said, "He's the guy standing outside of Hermes, talking on his cellphone."

Britta looked down at Abed and smiled. She said, "Thank you, Abed."

"He's not that good looking is he?" Jeff asked.

"Jeeze," Britta rolled her eyes, "someone's ego has got to-"

"He has a smaller forehead, but you're taller and have more muscle mass," Abed said.

"So, what are we doing here?" Britta asked.

"Abed and I," Jeff said while pointing to himself and Abed, "are digging up some dirt on this guy...I was up until four this morning researching him and all I could figure out was where he lived."

"That explains the fact that you look slightly homeless," Britta said, "well, if homeless men wore Dior jeans."

"I do not look homeless."

"She hasn't slept with him yet," Britta said as she looked across the street, "That's what you want to find out, right?"

"How long have you known this?' Jeff asked. He narrowed his eyebrows at her.

"Since, um, like, before I came here," Britta's pitch rose at the end of the sentence. She cleared her throat.

"And you haven't said anything until now?" Jeff glared at her.

"It really should be, like, none of your business," Britta said, "And just so you know, I've been cock-blocking this Chris dude ever since I've gotten here."

"You have?"

"Yeah, I even smoked a cigarette in front of him, just because I knew he would hate it and leave Annie's apartment," Britta smiled and nodded,"Pfft, he's the typical preppy ass who hates smokers. He probably wears aviator sunglasses even when there's an overcast."

"Nice," Jeff said. Without taking his eyes off of Chris across the street, he gestured a high five to Britta to which she responded. Jeff's eyes shifted from across the street to Britta. He asked her, "Wait, what's wrong with wearing sunglasses when there's an overcast?"

"There's no sun. Only d-bags wear sunglasses, especially aviators, when there is no sun," Britta said.

"What about-" Jeff began to ask.

"See, you guys do need me," Britta said as she focused on Chris across the street.

"Fine, Britta," Jeff sighed, "Just don't let him see you. He already knows what you look like."

"Good, I don't want him to see me."

Chris got off his phone and went underground to the subway station.

"Follow him!" Jeff said. He left the alley and ran across the street.

Britta looked into Abed's camera and asked, "What are we supposed to find out about this guy?"

"I'm not sure. I think it really has to do with Jeff's ego," Abed said.

"Well, that makes sense," Britta muttered.

Abed and Britta followed Jeff into the underground subway station. Jeff stood on the platform with his hands shoved into his pockets.

Abed stood next to Jeff with the camera in hand. The camera hummed as Abed zoomed out. He asked, "What are you hoping to find out?"

"How serious he is," Jeff said.

"What if he loves her?" Abed asked.

"Pfft," Britta began to laugh.

Abed focused the camera on Britta. "Care to add some commentary?" The camera hummed as he zoomed in.

"This Chris guy does not 'love,' Annie. They just met, like, three weeks ago," Britta said while rolling her eyes.

"How do you know?"

"Trust me, I know," Britta said.

"Have you ever been in love?" Abed asked her.

"Isn't this documentary supposed to be about Jeff?" Britta asked. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at the camera.

"It's technically not a documentary," Abed said, "Besides, the audience knows that Jeff is in love, but you're an enigma."

"And I prefer to stay an enigma," Britta said before a train stopped in front of them. "Besides, I thought you knew all the answers anyway, Abed?"

"And I prefer to watch them unfold. If I revealed them to the audience now, then there would be no point in filming this."

Britta crinkled her forehead, "So-so you already know what's going to happen?"

"I-" Abed began to say.

"He's getting on the train!" Jeff said. He ran up to the doors, but they closed before he could board the train. "Dammit!" Jeff bent over and rested his hands on his knees. "You guys distracted me!"

Britta walked up to him and said, "Listen."

Jeff stood up. He rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "What?"

"She's very upset and in-well, let's just say an emotionally fragile state-"

"Listen, Dr.-I-still-need-twelve-psych-credits-to-graduate- "

"Hey!" Britta said. She closed her eyes and said, "I'm saying this as her friend and as yours-"

"What?" Jeff sighed.

"I don't know what the hell you two said to each other, but obviously it fucked you two up pretty good. I mean both of you are frazzled, emotional messes and for some reason you both think its your fault. What you two need to do is..." Britta paused as she heard a humming sound. She squinted and looked over at Abed, "Are you filming this?"

"How many times do I need to tell you guys that I'm filming everything?" Abed asked. His eye fixed on the viewfinder of the camera. "I have another plan."

"No, no more plans," Jeff said, "I'm going to do what I originally came here to do. I'm going to knock on her door and tell her I'm sorry."

"But this one is a good one," Abed said.

"No."

"But this a great one."

"Fine! One last one," Jeff sighed, "But if this doesn't work, then I'm just knocking on her door, like I originally planned."

"Okay, I gotta go," Britta looked at her cellphone.

"Where do you have to go?" Jeff asked.

"I have to get Annie a new laptop," she rose her eyebrows at him, "Remember you owe me eight hundred dollars."

"Fine," Jeff shook his head, "I'll pay you back later, okay?"

"Fine. See you guys tomorrow," Britta waved goodbye and walked out of the subway station.

* * *

While walking down Arlington Street, Jeff looked over at Abed and said, "You haven't texted anyone in a while."

"My phone services are shut-off. That way Annie can't find out about the concert until you confess your love for her."

"Right," Jeff said, "Wait! This is getting ridiculous!"

Abed ignored Jeff and walked into the entrance of the Boston Public Gardens.

"Where are you going?" Jeff asked.

"You'll see," Abed said. They passed through the park and walked past the myriad of many different colored tulips planted in the flower beds. They crossed a bridge over a pond filled with swan peddle boats. Abed looked at Jeff and said, "You haven't texted anyone lately."

"Mind your own business."

"Fine, I'm just pointing out some subtext for the audience."

Jeff, with a face of stone, stared at Abed. After a pause he said, "I don't know why the hell I agreed to let you film this." As they left the Public Gardens, they emerged onto Beacon Street. Jeff stood on the sidewalk and looked at the sign of the restaurant across the street. "No," he said.

"We have to."

"I am not going into that tourist trap Cheers."

"The most well written American sitcom was conceived here. Before it was _Cheers_, it was just the neighborhood Bull and Finch Pub. James Burrows and Glen and Les Charles picked this place out of a phonebook and television history was never the same again. Do you think we're going to visit Boston without making a pilgrimage?"

"You're kidding?"

Abed shook his head and went into the restaurant.

Jeff shook his head, sighed and then followed Abed.

"Hi, how many?" the hostess asked.

"Two," Abed said.

"Wait, you wouldn't happen to be an Abed Nadir, would you?" the waitress asked.

"Yeah, that's me."

"You two should follow me then."

Abed began to follow the waitress. Jeff put his hands on his hips and tilted his head as he watched Abed walk away. He shook his head and followed Abed and the waitress. She led them to a booth.

"Abed!"

"Troy?" Jeff rose his eyebrows.

"Hey," Abed said and sat down in the booth.

"I-I knew I would find you at Cheers!" Troy said.

"Wait a minute," Jeff crinkled his forehead and sat down in the booth next to Abed, "How the hell did you find us if both you and Abed's phones are disconnected?"

"Ah, duh, wherever Abed, goes I'll find him," Troy said in a matter of fact tone. He began to sniffle, "C-can you t-take me to Annie? I-I need to-to se-see her and-and talk to her ab-about stuff."

"Why are you about to cry?" Jeff asked.

"I am not about to cry!" Troy said and sniffed his nose.

"What's wrong?" Jeff sighed.

Troy gulped and looked up at the ceiling, "Britta and I got into a fight and-and she broke up with me..."

"Well, that explains her 'vacation,'" Jeff rolled his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Britta's here, with Annie," Abed said with his eye on the viewfinder of the camera. The camera buzzed as he zoomed in on Troy.

"She's here?" Troy tilted his head. He pointed his finger towards the ground.

"Are you really filming this?" Jeff asked. He pounded his fist on the table and gritted his teeth.

"Of course I am," Abed said.

"I'm sick of you exploiting us! I'm going back to the hotel!" Jeff said and stormed out of the restaurant.

"So, Britta is here?" Troy asked.

"Yeah, she's staying at Annie's," Abed said.

"You know what this means?"

"That I now have a beta couple for my film?"

"That and I'm gonna win her back."

"What did you fight about?" Abed asked. His eye was still fixed on the viewfinder of his camera.

"Um, ah, I can't exactly remember, but um, I'll figure something out," Troy nodded. He stared at the table for a moment. The he looked at Abed and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

"I don't know. It's hard to predict Britta's behavior," Abed said. After a pause, he added, "Okay, I think I have an idea."


	5. Chapter 5

a/n: _I don't own Community_. I promise in the next chapter everything will be resolved and such. Grammatical errors for this chapter will be fixed later. Haha, this is probably the only Jeff/Annie story where they're apart for the majority of the story. However, I implied part of the ending in the first chapter with a very obscure reference.

* * *

Britta walked into the main building of the Boston Medical Center and over to the information desk.

"Hi," Britta took a deep breath and asked, "Could you please direct me to-to the," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "the morgue?"

"Oh, honey," the elderly secretary smiled, "we don't call it the 'morgue,' anymore. Now, it's called the Chief Examiner's Office."

"Okay, whatever" Britta shuddered, "Could you please just tell me where it is?"

"It's on Albany Street. You can't miss it."

"Thanks," Britta forced a smile and left the main building of the Boston Medical Center. As she walked down the streets he looked at her cellphone and sighed at the message she had just received. She shook her head and walked into the Chief Examiner's Office. As she texted on her phone, she reached the front entrance and bumped into someone.

"I'm _so _sorry," the man said.

"No, it's my- ugh, Chris," Britta's face scrunched up.

"Nice to see you too," he said sarcastically.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"To see Annie. Her phone isn't working for some reason. She paid her bill, so I don't know what's wrong. Her password got changed and every time she calls the cellphone company, it's an automated machine. What are you doing here? Isn't your concert over?"

"Um yeah, but I've decided to stay longer and, um-you know check out, like, the history and stuff. You know, like, Susan B. Anthony was born here and the Pixies are from here and-"

"The Pixies are technically from Amherst."

"No, Kim Deal and David Lovering didn't join until they got to Boston, so it doesn't- wait you like the Pixies?"

"They're okay," he shrugged and asked, "Were you trying to text her?"

"What do you mean?" Britta sucked on her bottom lip.

"When you walked into me, like, three seconds ago? Were you texting Annie?"

"Oh, um," Britta cleared her throat, "no- I mean..."

He gave her a sympathetic smile and asked, "Was it your ex-boyfriend?"

Britta let out a nervous laugh and said, "It is most definitely not my ex-boyfriend-Hey how did you know I had a boyfriend?" She narrowed her eyes at Chris.

"Um," his eyes widened, "was I not supposed to-"

Britta shook her head, "Never mind, it shouldn't be any of your business."

Chris looked at his Movado watch, "My lunch break will be over soon. I gotta get downtown. I told them I was at a lunch meeting...Hey, are you gonna be herah fahr the Fourth of July?"

"What day of the week is that on?" Britta tilted her head at him and crinkled her forehead.

"It's this Thursday," he rose his eyebrows at her.

"Maybe," she narrowed her eyes at him, "Why?"

"My buddy is having a party on his roof. I just wanted to see if you would be up fahr goin'."

"Oh, um...I guess so. I mean, what else would I do?" she cleared her throat, "Annie is supposed to be the only person I know in the entire city."

"Okay, cool. I guess I'll see you later," Chris waved goodbye and walked down Albany Street.

"Douche," Britta muttered and then walked into the building. She saw Annie sitting at the front desk and reading a book.

"Hey!" Annie looked up from her book and set it down on her desk.

Britta walked up to the desk and said, "Hey, I literally ran into Chris on the way in."

"Oh yeah," Annie forced a smile, "Did you say 'hi,' to him?"

"Of course I did," Britta rolled her eyes, "Here," she took a laptop out of her backpack and gave it to Annie, "I got you a new one."

"You didn't have to do that," Annie smiled, "I kind of overreacted earlier."

"Yeah, well, I wanted to," Britta smiled, "You know? Blood pattern stain examination class and such."

"Thanks," Annie sighed, "Oh, hey! My phone wont work. I've been calling Verizon all day, but they wont let me access my damn account. Can you call Abed for me?"

Britta's eyes widened. She forced a smile and said, "Sure." She dialed Abed and handed the phone to Annie. She looked around at her surroundings and at Annie, who was dressed in a white lab coat. Britta cringed and asked, "How do you work here?"

"What do you mean?" Annie rose her eyebrows at Britta. She held the phone to her ear and sighed.

"There are, well," Britta's voice lowered to a whisper again, "dead people," she changed it back to a normal volume, "in here."

"Yeah, so?" Annie shrugged. Her eyebrows narrowed and she shook her head, "Abed's phone isn't working either!"

"Call Shirley to see if she can find one of them?" Britta's forehead crinkled.

Annie set Britta's phone down on her desk. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair as she shook her head. "Abed was weird the last time I talked to him."

"How do you mean? Actually, how can you even tell he's acting weird?" Britta asked.

"I don't know, like-" Annie began to say before Britta's phone began to vibrate.

Both of them froze and looked at the phone.

"Are you going to look at the text?" Annie asked.

Britta grabbed her phone off the table and gulped. She quickly looked at the text and put the phone in her pocket. She rose her eyebrows and clasped both of her hands together, "Nope! Not Abed!"

"Forget what I said about Abed. You're acting weird," Annie said.

Britta sighed and said, "Hey, listen, I have some stuff I gotta do this afternoon. Is there anyway you could meet me on Arlington Street, across from the Public Gardens at, say, six o'clock tonight?"

"That's in the complete opposite direction of my apartment."

"So?"

"Fine," Annie shook her head, "but why am I meeting you there?"

"Public transport confuses me."

"I thought you lived in New York. Isn't their public transport system more complicated?"

"No, Annie," Britta sighed, "They have numbers to tell you what train to take. It just makes sense. Here, they have colors and numbers and, like, letters and I don't get it."

"Didn't you need to take a train to get here?"

"I-um, yeah, um...I got lucky?"

"You got lucky?" Annie giggled.

"Yeah," Britta shrugged.

"What do you want to do later?" Annie asked.

"I don't know," Britta looked at her shoes, "We can figure it out later."

"Alright," Annie bobbed her head up and down, "Is it okay if Chris comes?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Britta forced a smile. She looked around and cringed, "Look, this place creeps me the fuck out and I think we all know that I don't do well around cadavers."

"Luckily all of them are on the ground floor, Britta," Annie laughed.

"Yeah, good thing," Britta nodded, "I'm gonna leave. I'll call you later."

"You can't call me. Remember?"

"Okay, then, I'll see you later."

"Alright, bye."

Britta waved and walked out the front door.

* * *

"Alright, Jeff," Abed said, "I've arranged it so Annie takes a cab, right at the hotel across from the park." Abed pointed at the street across from the park. "You will get on a bike-"

"No," Jeff said.

"Let me finish-"

"No. I'm not riding a bike. What's this from again?"

"_A Small Circle of Friends_," Abed said.

"Who is in that?"

"Karen Allen," Britta said, "Abed made me, Troy and Annie watch it with him one week, when he had this obsession with Karen Allen."

"Anyway," Abed continued, "You get on the bike and-"

"I told you, I'm not riding a bike," Jeff said.

"Jeff, you were going to run across the field at Fenway Park, but you wont chase after Annie's cab on a bike?" Britta asked.

Jeff remained silent.

Britta rose her eyebrows and tilted her head at Jeff. She patted his arm and asked, "Did no one ever teach you how to ride a bike, Jeff?"

"No, I can ride a bike."

Britta bit her lip, "It's okay if you can't. We'll figure something else out."

"Fine! I can't ride a bike!"

"I guess that nixes that plan," Britta said, "Wait! I got an awesome idea!"

"Oh, this will be good," Jeff said sarcastically.

"What movie is it from?" Abed asked.

"It's not from a movie," Britta said.

Abed removed his eye from the viewfinder of his camera. He looked at Britta and said, "But that's not the point of this."

Britta tilted her head at Abed and said, "I thought the whole point of this was to confront the whole Jeff/Annie problem once and for all?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Abed asked.

Britta ignored Abed and looked at Jeff, "This is what we should do; we wait until the Fourth of July-"

"That's three days away," Jeff sighed.

"And at nine o'clock, when the fireworks go off, you meet from opposite sides of the Mass Ave Bridge. You'll walk from Cambridge and she'll walk from Boston. She'll see you in the distance and be all, like, 'Is that Jeff?' and then she'll realize its you. You'll meet in the middle and make up for whatever the hell you two said to each other. Cue cheesy kiss or whatever, as fireworks go off."

Jeff tilted his head at Britta and said, "That's actually a great idea."

"I know," Britta nodded with a confident smile. She looked at her cellphone and then at the entrance to the park. Britta's eyes widened with panic, "Shit! Hide!"

"What?" Jeff crinkled his forehead.

"Hide! Like, now!" she looked back at the entrance to the park, where Annie was impatiently looking at her watch and tapping her foot.

Jeff looked at Britta and asked, "Why?"

"Why are you such an asshat? Annie is, like, here!" Britta shook her head and pushed Jeff into a flower bed. She turned to Abed and said, "Hide behind the statue or something!"

"Where are you going?" Abed asked her.

"To get rid of Annie."

"Are you coming back?"

"No, why would I come back?"

"But you should come ba-"

"Annie wants to do something later and I can't go somewhere else, as I'm not supposed to know anyone else in Boston and-Why am I explaining this to you? Just hide!" Britta shook her head and ran towards the Arlington Street entrance.

* * *

Annie rolled her eyes as she looked at her watch and mumbled, "She's not going to show up." Annie shook her head and said to herself, "An errand? How stupid was I to not conclude what Britta probably mean't by an 'errand.'"

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Britta; panting out of breath. "Hey, what's up?" Britta heaved and she leaned foreword to rest her hands on her knees.

Annie smiled and said gently, "And that is why you shouldn't smoke."

"Please, spare me the lecture," Britta stood up. She linked her arm with Annie's and began to walk away.

"Where are you leading me to?"

"The subway station," Britta started to drag Annie across the street.

"Britta! It's a green light!" Annie's eyes widened as a car zipped by them.

"Well, we have to go, like, now!" Britta said as she pulled Annie by the arm.

"Are you running away from something?" Annie asked with worried eyes.

Britta's mouth parted as she started to say something, but she couldn't find the words to explain herself.

"Oh, God," Annie crinkled her forehead. She whispered, "It's drugs, isn't it?"

"Um...yeah! That's exactly what it is and we need to leave, like, right now, or-or something bad will happen or something."

They crossed the street and walked down the stairs to the subway station. They stood on the platform and waited for the train.

"What did you do?" Annie asked, shaking her head.

"What do you mean?" Britta asked.

"What were you just-"

"Oh, oh yeah!" Britta crinkled her forehead and uttered a nervous laugh, "Um-just don't," she cleared her throat, "worry about it... Okay?"

"Okay," Annie sighed, "So, I was thinking that later we could-"

"Hey, can we see the fireworks on the Fourth of July?" Britta interrupted.

"Chris wanted to go to this party..."

"Yeah, but fireworks!" Britta forced a smile, "I wanna see them!"

"It's on his friend's roof...we can probably see them from there."

"But, um-um, I really, really, like, really want to see them from the bridge."

"You want to go all the way to the bridge? We'll be able to see them from the roof."

"But-"

"And there will be alcohol on the roof. I know how important that is to you. You can't drink in the streets."

"Well, at least not around cops," Britta said, "However, we should go to the bridge."

Annie sighed and forced a smile, "I think it would be better on the roof."

"It's on my bucket list!" Britta exclaimed, "we need to go to the bridge!"

"That is the most obscure thing to be on a person's bucket list!" Annie tilted her head. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Let's talk about this later."

"Okay," Britta nodded, "So, what are we doing later?"

"Chris wants to go eat at this restaurant."

Britta forced a smile, "Awesome."

* * *

Abed walked over to the flower bed Jeff was lying in. He focused the camera on Jeff; resulting in a low angle shot.

Jeff heard the camera buzz as Abed zoomed in for a close-up. He closed his eyes and asked, "And why did I not just go up to Annie then and there?"

"It's not romantic and my awesome 'chase Annie's cab on your bike, _A Small Circle of Friends_,' homage was nixed because you failed to mention that you couldn't ride a bike."

"Oh yeah," Jeff said sarcastically as he looked into the camera. "This is getting ridiculous! Scratch that, we are way past ridiculous!" Suddenly, Jeff heard a string quartet playing in the background, "What's that?" he sat up and looked across the park. Troy was standing next to a string quartet with a portable microphone in his hand. "What is he doing?"

"He's trying to serenade Britta," Abed said with his eye on the viewfinder of his camera.

"Britta isn't here."

"She was supposed to be here, but you screwed up the plan by failing to mention that-"

"Never mind!" Jeff sighed and got up from the flower bed. He looked at his clothes, covered in dirt and started to swear under his breath. He then noticed that the string quartet was playing, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You." Jeff shook his head and walked over to Troy.

People stopped in the park and began to throw money in the violin case next to Troy's band.

Just as Troy was about to open his mouth, Jeff interrupted, "What the hell are you doing?"

Troy waved for the band to stop playing and glared at Jeff, "I was trying to serenade Britta, but you obviously just ruined it!"

"She's not here and she doesn't want to be serenaded!" Jeff yelled.

"And how do you know that?" Troy tilted his head at him.

"Because Britta hates Grand Romantic Gestures like this!" Jeff shook his head, "Do you know what a Grand Romantic Gesture for Britta is?" Jeff tilted his head at Troy, "Breaking into an animal testing lab and freeing monkeys or something!"

"So, you're telling me to free monkeys?" Troy squinted at Jeff.

"Harvard's monkey testing lab is less than a half-hour outside of Boston," Abed said.

"Really?" Troy tilted his head and nodded.

"No!" Jeff ruffled his hands through his hair, "I'm telling you to let her cool off and for you to not commit a felony just to impress Britta!"

"Then how am I supposed to get her back!" Troy shook his head, "This is, like, the second time I've messed it up with Britta."

Jeff sighed, "Just, I don't know. Leave her alone and let her come to you!" he looked at Abed, who was filming and said, "I'm going back to the hotel to change." He turned back to Troy, "Do not, I repeat, do not, orchestrate a Grand Romantic Gesture for Britta."

As Jeff walked away, Abed turned the camera and focused on Troy. "So, do you have another plan to get Britta back?"

"I could free some monkeys, but Jeff told me to not commit a felony. Um, I guess-um, well, no, I don't have any ideas."

"Okay, I got one," Abed nodded, "but we'll have to wait a couple of days."

"Awesome," Troy smiled wide, "thanks, man."

* * *

Annie and Britta met Chris at the restaurant. He sat alone at the table. They walked over. Annie pecked him on the lips and sat next to him. Britta unsuccessfully tried to force a smile and sat down across from Annie.

"Hey," Chris smiled wide.

"What are you so excited about?" Britta narrowed her eyes at him.

"Nothing really," he continued to smile. Suddenly, he began waving to someone from across the restaurant.

A handsome man in his early thirties came over and sat down next to Britta.

"This is Nick, I work with him over at Fidelity," Chris smiled, "This is my girlfriend Annie and this is her friend Britta."

Britta's mouth dropped open as she scathingly looked at Annie.

"Nice to meet you," Nick smiled at Britta and offered her his hand to shake.

Britta turned to him, forcing a smile and said, "Please, excuse me, I have to use the restroom." She shook his hand and left the table.

Annie began gently hitting Chris' arm under the table as she forced a fake smile. Chris turned to her and shrugged, "What?" he whispered.

She shifted her eyes to Nick.

Chris rose his eyebrows and looked at Nick, "Hey, man, can you get us something to drink?"

"Of course," Nick nodded, "What do you guys want?"

"Just get me a beer," Chris shrugged.

"Scotch," Annie forced a smile.

"Scotch?" Chris rose his eyebrows at Annie.

"Mmhmm," Annie put on a fake cheery demeanor.

When Nick left the table, Annie hit Chris' arm.

"Ouch," he deadpanned.

"What the fuck where you thinking?" Annie glared at him.

"Whoah, I've never heard you talk like that be-"

"I'm serious," Annie began to run her temples, "She just broke up with Troy and-and they have a very-"

"Annie?"

"Yeah?"

"She doesn't seem like she's upset about Troy."

"How would you know? You barely know her," Annie narrowed her eyes at him.

"She's here for some other reason, I can tell," he nodded.

"You can tell?' Annie tilted her head at him and rolled her eyes.

"I lie to people and tell them I can predict the future for a living and they lie back to me," he said, "I can sense these things."

"Listen," Annie sighed.

"Look, I just have been wanting to ask you something, alone, and it's been very difficult with Britta being here all the time."

"Fine," Annie breathed in, "Just, please leave and take Nick with you. Britta will probably get really drunk, I'll drop her off at my apartment and then I'll meet you at yours. Okay?"

"Alright," Chris sighed and left the table. He went up to the bar, said something to Nick and then they both left.

* * *

A couple hours later, Annie struggled to hold Britta up the five floor walk-up to her apartment.

"An-anie! Gu-guess what?" Britta began to giggle.

"What?" Annie rolled her eyes as she struggled to keep Britta standing up. She took her keep out of her pocket and leaned Britta against the wall.

Britta whispered loudly, "I-I have a secret!"

"What?" Annie asked as she opened the door.

Britta began to laugh, "Y-you're gonna love it...I hope you will, at-at least. Th-that's why we have to-to..."

Annie put Britta's arm over her shoulder again and began to drag her into Annie's bedroom. "To what?" Annie struggled to say as she carried Britta's dead weight.

She laid Britta down on the bed and took off her shoes. Britta closed her eyes and said, "We-we have to go to the bridge. It's important."

"Okay, we'll go to the bridge," Annie said with nonchalance.

"Awesome," Britta muttered.

Annie looked at Britta passed out in the dark. She tilted her head and thought about what Chris said at dinner. Annie gulped and asked, "Britta?"

"Mmmhhmm?"

"Are you okay? You know, about you and Troy breaking up for the second time?"

"Ugh," Britta's face scrunched up, "Must you and I al-always talk ab-about this shit? Do-do you know wh-what the Bechtel test is? Be-because we failed pretty fuckin' bad."

"It's Bechdel," Annie smiled, "Last time I ask. I promise."

"I-I'm perfectly fine," Britta sighed and shifted onto her side, "I-I'm worried 'bout you. I-I'm worried that you-you-you need to-to understand something and-and I'm 'fraid you wont."

"What do I need to understand?" Annie asked.

"Understand that-that he's an asshat."

"Who is an asshat?" Annie crinkled her forehead. After a pause she said, "Britta!"

Britta began to snore loudly. Annie rolled her eyes and muttered to herself, "I shouldn't have let her drink that much."

Annie shut the bedroom light off and left out the front door. She locked the door and walked down the stairs. She looked at her watch; it was one in the morning. Her stomach dropped the moment she realized that once she got on the train and made it to Chris' apartment, public transit would close and she would either have to spend the night or take a cab. Annie gulped and nodded. "I'm going to do this," she said to herself.

* * *

Annie hesitated before she knocked on Chris' door. He opened the door and kissed her. "Hey, so glad you came."

"Yeah, me too," she smiled. She walked into his apartment and sat down on the couch. he sat next to her and took her hand in his.

"So," he shyly looked at her hand and then looked back up to her face, "I'm leaving on the fifth to London for a business trip and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?"

"Really?" Annie tilted her head at him.

"Yeah, it will be wicked awesome," he smiled and nodded.

She paused for a moment and opened her mouth, but she was unable to find the words, "Can-can I think about it?"

"Yeah! Of course," he nodded and kissed her on the cheek. He put his arm around her and asked, "Are you tired?"

"Yeah," she nodded and giggled, "I had to drag Britta up five flights of stairs."

"You can sleep in my bed. I'll take the couch."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I don't mind."

* * *

The next morning, Jeff, Abed and Troy sat in a laundry mat as they waited for their clothes to get clean. Jeff read a magazine, while Troy and Abed discussed _Back to The Future_.

"No, The third one is bad. Do I need to explain how it messes with the continuity of the mechanics of the time machine?" Abed said.

"No, you don't and it's not that bad. Trilogy wise, it's halfway decent," Troy tilted his head.

"No, it makes no sense to go back into the wild west and there is implied incest," Jeff said with nonchalance as he flipped through the magazine, "Everyone in Marty's family looks the same..."

"There's implied incest in _Arrested Developmen_t!" Troy said.

"That's a TV show," Jeff said.

"And the story arcs and the interconnecting plot-lines made that show a work of story-structure genius. Also, it managed to have running jokes without any of them 'getting old and tired,'" Abed said.

"He's right Troy, that show was streets ahead," Jeff said as he flipped another page.

Abed picked up his camera and focused it on Jeff. As the camera droned from zooming in, Jeff looked up and asked with a disgruntled sigh, "Can we please have a break? I mean, hell, we've been here so long that I've run out of clothes!"

"Are you nervous for tomorrow night?" Abed asked.

"Not anymore," Jeff said, "I just want to see her."

* * *

Annie walked into her apartment and saw a hung-over Britta sipping tea on the couch.

"Look who is walk of shaming it!" Britta rose her eyebrows at Annie.

Annie shook her head and pursed her lips, "I didn't do what you're implying. I've only known him for three weeks."

"How long are you gonna wait?" Britta asked as she looked through the newspaper.

"I don't know," Annie shrugged.

"How long did you wait to do it with Vaughn?"

"I didn't sleep with Vaughn," Annie said as she made herself some tea.

"What?" Britta began to laugh, "What? You were together for months and you almost moved away with him!"

"He wouldn't do it because and I quote, 'mountain flower, the last woman I was with fucked with my heart so badly that I want it to be perfect with you,'" Annie glared at Britta.

"Really?" Britt asked. She bit her lip and resisted from bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

"Really," Annie flashed a fake smile at Britta for a second and then sat next to her on the couch.

"Sorry," Britta said and then started to laugh.

"It's not funny!" Annie pursed her lips, "One time I practically threw myself at him and he started to cry! What the hell did you even do to him?"

"I don't know," Britta giggled, I'm really sorry," she nodded, "So, like, the bridge tomorrow?"

"What? How did we transition to this?"

"Last night, you promised to take me to the bridge on the Fourth of July."

"You really want to go to the stupid bridge?" Annie sighed.

"Yeah, bucket list, remember?"

"Fine," Annie nodded, "We'll go to the party after the bridge."


	6. Chapter 6

a/n) I do not own _Community. _

Kind of a long chapter, but I didn't want to break this up.

I strongly encourage everyone to read the entire chapter before deciding on hating this.

The following questions will be answered, but not necessarily in this order-

Who has been texting who?

What did Jeff and Annie say to each other?

What did Troy and Britta fight about?

Does Annie go to London with Chris?

Why is Britta _really_ here?

How does Abed's movie turn out?

* * *

So We must meet apart –  
You there – I – here –  
With just the Door ajar  
That Oceans are – and Prayer –  
And that White Sustenance –  
Despair –

-Emily Dickinson

* * *

Britta stood on the corner of Massachusetts Ave and Beacon Street, smoking a cigarette. She leaned her head back and exhaled the smoke from her lungs.

"I caught you," a smug voice said.

She turned around and smiled at Jeff, "Hey," she squinted and tilted her head, "Escape from Abed again?"

He nodded and asked, "Wanna get a drink?"

"You bet," she dropped her cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. They began walking down the street to a bar. She turned to Jeff and said, "Abed knows...where you've been going when you're not with him."

"Abed probably knows how the world will end," Jeff laughed. He shoved his hands into his pockets and said, "Thanks."

"For what?" she asked, staring straight ahead.

"You know," he shrugged.

"Yeah, well," Britta sighed, "It's the least I can do, especially since you failed to mention a pretty significant detail, which would have prevented this entire situation in the first place."

"And what is that?"

"You," she shook her head and paused as she tried to find the words, "You were secretly sleeping with her for a good chunk of the year..." Britta pursed her lips, "and at some point, apparently 'it,' stopped..."

He stopped walking and looked at her, "She told you?"

Britta nodded and whispered, "Yeah."

"I'm an asshat," Jeff said.

"I know," Britta said and continued down the street.

Jeff caught up to her and asked, "I fucked up pretty badly, didn't I?"

"Understatement of the year," Britta said. She turned to him and said, "Listen, I'm just trying to fix this mess."

"I know," Jeff said, "So am I."

"And," Britta continued, "There's something you need to think about before you go through with this."

"What?"

"What happens after?" Britta rose her eyebrows at Jeff.

"What do you mean?"

"You confront, Annie, you two make up and then what happens? Are you gonna move here; to Boston?" Britta tilted her head at him.

"Well, I thought she would-"

"Typical," Britta rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing?" he asked, "does this have to do with-"

"No," Britta interrupted and shook her head, "Maybe she's happy and-"

"She wants to stay?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know," Britta shrugged. "Just think, for her entire life, all she's wanted to do was something for herself, something she truly loved, and not just do it for the sake of putting it on her résumé. Now, for probably the first time, like, ever, she has that. Do you want to take it away from her?"

He paused and looked at Britta.

"You might have changed, Jeff, a lot, in fact, but..." she crinkled her forehead, "but, you're still putting yourself before other people, despite trying to make things, 'right.' You see, this might seem like the right thing to do at the present moment, but what about later? Thinking in the moment is what got us all into this mess."

"Are you telling me to not go to the bridge and apologize to Annie?"

"No, I'm not telling you to do anything. It's not my place to tell you what to do, but I'm going to ask you to do something," Britta shook her head, "I'm asking you to seriously consider the implications of your actions. Don't sweep in and enchant her, only to make her give up her dreams for you."

"I would never, 'make,' her do anything."

"Oh, I know," Britta nodded, "At least, you would never do it intentionally."

He tilted his head at her, "Why did you come here, Britta?"

"I came because if I didn't, I would hate myself even more than I already do," Britta whispered. "Why did you come here?"

"Same reasons."

"Then, I guess I'll see you at the bridge tonight," Britta nodded and turned around to walk away.

"What about that drink?" Jeff asked.

Britta turned around and stopped walking. She said sadly, "No more drinks," and then began to walk away again.

* * *

Annie sat at the front desk of the Chief Examiner's office. She stared at her out-of service cell-phone and sighed. Suddenly, it began to vibrate.

"Finally!"She picked it up and looked at her inbox. She scrolled down on the screen and saw several messages from Chris, one from Britta, one from Shirley, a pocket dial text from Pierce, and one from Abed, right before her service got shut off, asking her where the iron was. She then tried to go on Twitter, but her account had been disabled. "What the-?" she sighed and sat back in her seat. She texted Britta.

**Annie: **Phone works again. Just letting you know if you need to contact me about taking public transport. haha.

**Britta: **lol. awesome. we r goin to the bridge right/

**Annie: **Yes, we will go to your precious bridge.

**Britta: **Good

* * *

Later that evening, Britta walked into Annie's apartment. She walked down the narrow hallway and tilted her head at the sight of the empty living room. "Annie?" she asked loudly.

"In my room," Annie's voice was faint.

Britta opened the door and saw a suitcase on Annie's bed, while Annie stood in front of an open drawer to her dresser. "What are you doing?" Britta asked as her forehead crinkled.

Annie smiled and said, "I'm going to London."

"What?" Britta's eyes widened, "When and why?"

Annie giddily replied, "Tomorrow, with Chris."

"Wa-wait a sec here," Britta shook her head. "Are you sure you want to go on a trip with him to a foreign country. I mean you've only known him for-"

"I appreciate the concern," Annie said forcefully, "But I'm going to be fine."

"You haven't seemed fine. I mean, less than a week ago you were-"

"Britta," Annie smiled, "I think I'm fine now. I-I need to do this."

Britta frowned and sat down on Annie's bed. She shrugged, "Fine, but remember, nothing is ever set in stone. You can still change your mind."

"Yeah and if I do change my mind, which I don't think will happen, you will be the first person I tell," Annie forced a smile as she folded a shirt.

"And why is that?" Britta asked.

"Because you're the one who has been bugging me about this the most," Annie looked at her watch and asked, "You ready to go to the bridge?"

Britta nodded, "Yeah."

* * *

Jeff stood with Abed in Cambridge at the corner of Mass Ave and Memorial drive. As he texted on his phone, he asked, "Where's Troy?"

With his eye on the viewfinder of the camera, Abed said, "He's preparing something."

Jeff scowled and rolled his eyes, "Please, don't tell me he's going to perform a Grand Romantic Gesture for Britta?"

"Then, I won't tell you," Abed said.

Jeff shook his head and said, "Fine, then don't come crying to me when she reacts badly."

"We wont," Abed said. The camera droned as he zoomed in on Jeff, "Do you have a Winger speech prepared?"

"Yeah," Jeff nodded.

Suddenly, the sound of thunder echoed in the distance.

"That's just great," Jeff said sarcastically.

* * *

Annie and Britta stood on the corner of Beacon Street and watched drunken college students pass by. Annie impatiently looked at her watch and shook her head.

"I'm excited. Are you exited?" Britta plastered a smile.

"Sure," Annie sighed, "So, the second this is over, we are going to Chris' friend's house, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever you say," Britta nodded.

Then, they heard the thunder boom in the distance.

"Shit," Britta cursed.

"See," Annie glared at Britta, "I told you we should have gone to that party."

* * *

Jeff glared into Abed's camera and said, "I don't know why we agree to Britta's ideas!"

They saw lightning start to light up the sky. Jeff shook his head and said, "Screw the fireworks. I'm going across that bridge, right now, and seeing her."

Jeff began to walk towards the bridge, but a large crowd of people were pouring out of the entrance. Jeff navigated his way through the crowd, but was stopped by a cop.

"Hey, sorry, guy," the cop said, "but I can't let you on the bridge at the present moment."

"And why is that?" Jeff asked.

"With the lightening and all, it's not safe for pedestrians."

"But-but, listen-"

"No, you listen to me, guy."

"Look,-"

"No, you look at the sky, guy."

"There's this girl over there and I need to go over there, apologize to her and confess my true feelings."

"Yikes, guy, the only way you're getting over there is if you go to a Red-line T station and take the T ovah there. I would leave now. Some people ahre gonna leave when they announce that the fireworks have been postponed."

Jeff ruffled his hands through his hair and asked, "How long have they been postponed for?"

The cop looked at his watch, "Naht sure, it all depends."

* * *

Annie and Britta stood on Beacon Street. Annie looked at her phone and said, "The website say's they're postponed and they're telling people to see shelter. Please, give up this obsession you have with seeing fireworks from the bridge and come to Chris' friend's party with me."

"No, we need to stay here and wait until it's clear to go on the bridge."

Annie shook her head, "I'm leaving." She began to walk away.

"You can't leave!" Britta grabbed her by the arm.

"What the hell? Let go of my arm!" Annie started to pull her arm away from Britta.

"Please!" Britta begged, "I'm trying-trying to make everything right!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Annie stood still and stopped trying to pull away from Britta. Crowds of people began to walk past them as they left the Esplanade Park to flee the oncoming rain.

Britta crinkled her forehead and said, "You can't go to London with Chris."

"Why do you hate him so much? Is it because he called you a hipster? Because if that's the reason, then that has to be the most idiotic thing I have ever heard-"

"I don't hate him!" Britta said, "I just think he's a douche, who may most definitely be your type, but doesn't deserve you! You don't understand! See it's that-"

"I see," Annie glared at Britta, "Listen, I'm not some kid who doesn't know what they're doing and I've finally mustered up the will to move past what happened this Spring and-and although I may not feel one hundred percent fine, I feel a hell of a lot better than I did when I was in Colorado!" Tears began to escape from the corner of her eyes.

"Annie?" Britta shook her head and said, "Although I believe that to be somewhat true, I think you should stay here because-"

Annie shook her head, "No, I'm leaving. I'm going to see Chris at that party and stay at his house tonight. You're welcome to stay at my apartment for the rest of the week, until you want to go back to Colorado." She started to walk away.

"Annie! Please come back to the bridge!" Britta yelled as she watched Annie walk away. "Jeff is-"

Annie turned around and yelled, "I don't care, Britta! Leave me alone! I can't take this anymore! Stop making excuses for him! He's not coming back to me, alright? Stop feeling guilty about what happened! You didn't know! It wasn't your fault. It was just my own stupidity!" She started to walk away again.

"But, Annie!"

* * *

After waiting twenty minutes the thunder and lightning calmed down. The police allowed people to cross the bridge again. Jeff started to run across the bridge and heard a faint "Jeffrey!" calling him in the distance. As he ran closer, he stopped and cursed, "You have to be fucking kidding me!"

"Jeffrey! I knew I would find you here!" the Dean cried as he wrapped his arms around Jeff.

"What the hell are you doing here? I created a new e-mail just to buy the plane tickets to get here!"

"I came to perform a Grand Romantic Gesture for-"

"No!" Jeff shook his head.

Abed interjected and said, with his eye on the viewfinder, "Britta still has a GCC student e-mail address."

"Damn it!" Jeff ruffled his hands through his hair. "You know what? I don't have time for this!" Jeff continued to run across the bridge.

Abed and the Dean stood in place as they watched Jeff run farther and farther away.

"Shouldn't you be following him?" the Dean asked.

"Just wait," Abed said. He took his eye off the viewfinder for a moment.

Jeff stopped running and stood frozen in place.

"What happened?" the Dean asked.

"Britta just texted him that Annie went to that party and that Annie is leaving tomorrow to go to London with Chris."

"Oh," the Dean nodded, "What party?"

"Annie's current boyfriend Chris' friend's party. Now Jeff is going to sulk as we watch Britta walk closer across the bridge. She's going to try and console him, but he'll rebuff her and prefer to sulk alone. Jeff will stay there as Britta walks over to us."

The Dean and Abed watched as Britta appeared from across the bridge. She went up to Jeff and waved her arms around in panic as she shook her head. Jeff yelled at her, but Britta didn't start to console him. Instead, she began to cry.

"Abed, um, Britta is-" the Dean said.

"Oh, no. I was hoping this wouldn't be the case," Abed shook his head. He started to walk towards Jeff and Britta, "It's difficult to predict what Britta is or will do. She's usually the missing piece to the puzzle."

"What would be the case?" the Dean asked.

"I'm not sure," Abed said, "There's only one way to find out."

As they approached closer, they heard Jeff yelling at Britta.

"Why didn't you make her come here?" Jeff yelled.

"Listen! I don't even have to be here right now!" Tears fell down Britta's cheek.

"Then why are you?" Jeff yelled back.

"Because-" Britta looked down at the ground and shook her head, "Never mind, Jeff. I-I don't know why I even try to help because apparently I suck at everything! And I fuck everything up!" She started to walk away, but Jeff gently grabbed her by the arm.

"No, stop. It's my fault. I'm so sorry, Britta," Jeff said gently. He let go of her arm.

She stood still and said, "I'm sorry too. I should have just told her, but, I mean, this should be something that you tell her and I know if I said something, it would upset you and..."Britta turned her head towards Abed, "Are you filming this?"

"Of course," Abed said.

"Jesus," Jeff shook his head.

"We need to regroup," Britta nodded.

* * *

Annie walked up to a brownstone and knocked on the door.

"Annie?" Chris opened the door and picked her up in an embrace and kissed her, "Where's Britta?" He set her down on the ground.

"We, um, we kind of got into a fight," Annie looked at the ground.

"About what?"

"Don't worry about it," Annie said.

"Well, that sucks. My friend wanted to meet her," Chris said.

"I told you not to do that," Annie pursed her lips.

"But my friend Matt is perfect."

"Isn't he a cop?"

"Yeah, he's so badass," Chris nodded.

"You really don't understand Britta at all, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"She's an anarchist and hates cops."

"Oh..."

Annie let out a short laugh said sadly, "Let's not talk about this anymore."

* * *

Jeff, Britta, Abed and the Dean sat at a bar; contemplating what to do.

"I'm just going to go to that party," Jeff said.

"Bad idea," Britta took a sip of her rum and coke, "Chris is there and his friends are, too. They would probably try and kick your ass and we all know you've been in, like, one fight in your entire life."

"She's right," the Dean said, "Just call her."

Jeff shook his head, "This is something I should say in person."

"She's leaving tomorrow," Britta said as she looked into her drink on the table.

"So what do I do?" Jeff asked.

"You could chase her down at the airport!" the Dean said, "Just like in _How to Lose a Guy in Ten Day_s and the _Friends _finale and-"

"Every other romantic comedy ever made?" Jeff asked with sarcasm.

"Point taken," the Dean nodded and took a sip of his appeltini.

Abed's eyes widened, "_Next Stop Wonderland_."

"What?" everyone said in unison and looked at Abed.

"We're going to mess with fate," Abed nodded. "We're going to pull a _Next Stop Wonderland_."

"And how, exactly, does that work? Jeff asked.

"Hey, I think I've seen that movie," Britta nodded.

"You're actually getting a reference that I don't?" Jeff tilted his head at her.

"It has that lady in it," Britta shrugged, "She's in that movie about the comic book guy that Abed and Troy love so much."

"Exactly, _American Splendor_," Abed pointed at Britta. "Here's the plan," he paused for a moment.

"Why are you pausing?" the Dean asked.

"Usually I get interrupted by now," Abed said. "No interruption?... Okay, so Annie will have to go to the airport tomorrow, right?"

Britta nodded, "Yeah, she's meeting Chris there after work."

"So she'll be going alone?" Abed asked.

Britta nodded.

"Perfect," Abed raised his eyebrows. "She'll take the Green Line to Government Center and then transfer to the Blue Line, which will take her to the airport. It will be six o'clock on a Friday, so the train car will be very crowded. She'll get on the Blue Line subway car with the intention to ride it the entire way to the airport. Jeff gets on at the Aquarium T-Stop, which is the one right before Airport. That will give you approximately ten minutes to find her on the crowded train car. You see her, bump into her, make up and Annie doesn't go to London."

"So, you're cheating fate?" the Dean asked.

"Exactly," Abed nodded.

"Fine," Jeff shrugged, "What else do I have to lose?"

Britta's phone vibrated. She looked at the text and crinkled her forehead.

"You should go," Abed nodded.

She tilted her head at Abed and glared, "Fine," she sighed. Britta left the bar.

Abed grabbed his camera off the bar counter and said, "I'm going to follow her." He left the bar.

"Now that they're gone, we can have," The Dean turned to Jeff and said, "A Guys-"

"Do not say-"

"Guys Get-"

"Do not say get-"

"Guys Geta-"

"I swear to go do not say-"

"Guys Getaway!"

Jeff finished the remaining liquid in his glass. He set money down on the table and said, "I have some thinking to do," and then left the bar.

* * *

Abed followed Britta as she walked down the street with her arms crossed. She took out her phone and began to frantically text.

"Who are you texting?" Abed asked with his eye on the viewfinder of his camera. The camera hummed as he zoomed in.

"Don't worry about it," Britta squinted from the blinding light of the mountable camera light, "How the hell do you afford all this camera equipment?"

"Don't worry about it," Abed said, "What you should be worrying about is what's about to happen."

* * *

Britta made her way to the roof of an office building. She saw Troy smiling at her with his hands behind his back as he stood in front of a table set for two. The potted plants around the table were decorated with Christmas lights.

"Surprise! It's like from_ A Small Circle of Friends_! Remember that week Abed had that Karen Allen obsession?" Troy said. His smile beamed at her. He walked over to her and said, "Britta, whatever I said, I'm sorry for it. I don't want to lose you again and-"

"Shh-" Britta set her index finger on his lips and crinkled her forehead.

"But the argument-"

"Argument?"

"Britta, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for fighting with you and making you leave-"

"We weren't fighting," Britta said. She shook her head and a small smile crept upon her lips.

'Wh-what do you mean?" Troy let out a nervous laugh, "We had that argument and-"

"Please, I wouldn't call that an argument. We were bickering. What am I in high school? I'm not going to break up with you over a stupid fight about Batman's sexual preferences. Because really? I could care less. I really just wanted an excuse to leave..."

"What? Then why did you leave?"

Britta shrugged, "I don't really know. I-I guess I didn't feel like it anymore," she cringed, "I'm sorry. I mean, this is our second try at this and you were right the first time. It's just so much damn work. If we really cared for each other in a really romantical way, then we wouldn't need to put this much effort in. We need to admit to ourselves that it was good while it lasted, but-"

"But the only thing we really- I don't know- 'get,' about each other is-"

"Is?"

"Well, um," Troy looked up at the sky.

Britta smiled, "See?"

Troy smiled back and nodded, "Yeah, you're right, Britta."

"If you're not upset about Troy, then why are you here?" Abed asked. He looked into the viewfinder and focused the camera on Britta.

"Why are you still here?" she asked; glaring into the camera.

"To document Jeff's struggles as a human being in the real world. This will be a commentary on how, in the real world, there is no formula, no guarantee. There is no perfect way to say, 'I Love you.' See, its not about our actions or our words. Its about two people finding one another and just knowing. The strong gravity that pulls them to one another; no matter how much they fight it."

"Abed," Britta tilted her head at him, "That's really deep."

'Thanks," Abed nodded, "I was thinking of using that as a voiceover in the trailer."

"You still didn't answer my question," Britta's eyes widened.

'What do you mean?"

"Why are you still here, filming me and Troy, when you should really be following Jeff?"

"Why should he be following Jeff?" Troy asked with wide eyes, "Isn't he at the hotel?"

"No! He is not at the hotel!" Britta's eyes widened, "I thought he would have texted Abed and Abed would have gone and stopped him by now!"

"From doing what?" Abed asked. The camera hummed as he zoomed in on Britta.

"He's going to that party! Like, right now! And-and- fuck..."

"Wait, how-how do you know that?" Troy asked her. He looked over at Britta, biting his lip.

Britta sucked on her bottom lip and began to look up in the air. Tears began to form in her eyes. Abed's camera hummed as he captured a close-up of her face. Abed took his eye off the viewfinder and looked at Troy. Troy's gaze shifted from Britta and looked at Abed.

"Please, tell me you weren't?" Troy asked her.

"It was you? Wasn't it?" Abed asked.

Britta sniffed her nose. She nodded and said, "Yeah, it was me."

"That's what he's been doing on his phone," Abed stated.

Britta nodded head.

Troy closed his eyes and said, "And Jeff hasn't Tweeted since he left Colorado."

Britta shook her head.

"That's why you came?" Abed asked. He zoomed out slightly, but still had a close-up of Britta's face.

Britta nodded. She cringed and said; her voice cracking, "You don't understand...The-the faucets ar-are in his bathroom. I-I saw them at Christmas."

"Oh, Britta," Troy looked down on the ground and shook his head.

"I should go home? Shouldn't I? You know, before I do something really stupid?" Britta asked as she tried to restrain her tears.

"Yes," Troy solemnly nodded, "You should."

"Alright," Britta nodded. She turned to Troy and said, "I'm so sorry."

Troy closed his eyes and said, "I know."

"Are you mad?" She asked.

"I'll be fine. I just... I need some time." Troy said to her. He shook his head and left down the stairs into the office building.

Abed asked her, "How do you feel?"

"Horrible," Britta began to emit tears from her eyes, "Just so horrible. I-I just wanted to help them be-because I was the one who screwed this entire thing up. If it wasn't for me then there wouldn't have been that argument."

* * *

Jeff stood outside of the brownstone where the party Annie was at was. He saw her through one of the lit windows; laughing and flipping her hair. Suddenly, he heard a voice next to him.

"What are you doing here, Jeff? What happened to sticking with the plan?" Abed asked.

"I came here to think," Jeff said, "I was-"

"You were going to confront her?" Abed asked.

"Yeah," Jeff nodded, "but-'

"But you couldn't?"

"No," Jeff shook his head, "She looks so happy."

"I know you're sick of me doing this, but can I film you here- for context?"

"Go ahead," Jeff said.

Abed turned on his camera and asked, "How do you feel?"

"Creepy. Like, Jude Law in _Closer _creepy...Which means we should go back to the hotel... We'll go through with the plan for tomorrow."

* * *

That night, Annie went back to her apartment to apologize to Britta. She opened the turquoise door, walked down the narrow hallway and said, "Britta? Britta, I'm sorry for freaking out. It's just that..." Annie walked into the empty living room. "Britta?" she looked over at the kitchen counter and saw a note.

_I'm sorry. For everything. Went back to Greendale. Have fun in London, but don't forget about all of us. _

_-Britta._

* * *

The next evening, Troy waited outside of the Chief Examiner's office. He saw Annie leave work with a suitcase and started to dial his cell phone.

"The nightingale has left the nest. I repeat, the nightingale has left the nest," Troy said into his cell phone, "over."

* * *

"Roger," Abed nodded. Dressed in a disguise of a blue hoodie, sunglasses and a mustache, he waited at the Park Street T-stop. He took his camera equipment out of the bag.

* * *

The Dean waited in a restaurant from across the street of the Park Street T-stop. He saw Annie boarding the train and started to dial his cell phone, "Abed? She's getting on the next train."

* * *

"Roger," Abed nodded. He hung up on the Dean and called Jeff. "She's getting on this train. I'll call you right before it comes to your station."

* * *

Jeff stood at the Aquarium Blue Line Stop. He sighed as he answered the phone, "Okay, I'll see you in an hour."

* * *

Abed boarded the crowded train car and saw Annie at the other end of the train car holding on to a metal pole; looking at the ground anxiously.

He tilted his head at her as he obscured himself behind another passenger. He nodded. Annie Edison didn't want to go on this trip.

* * *

Jeff paced back and forth as he looked at the picture of the giants turtle on the billboard advertising The New England Aquarium. He shook his head and look down at the ground. He felt his phone vibrate. He looked at the text message.

**Abed: **Take the next train.

* * *

Abed waited as he observed Annie breathing in deep and trying to roll her shoulders in attempt to relax.

_"Next Stop Aquarium," _the train operator said.

Abed watched the train doors open and a flood of people pour into the train car. However, Jeff Winger didn't appear to be any of them. Abed frantically began to search the train car for Jeff as he pushed through the crowd of people.

* * *

Jeff leaned against the wall of the train car. He sighed and watched the city skyline pass by. The car began crowded, so Jeff moved and tried to navigate the other side of the car. Then, the train jerked, a woman fell into his arms.

* * *

Abed kept pushing his way through the train car, until he heard the conductor say, "_Next Stop Airport." _

The train came to a stop and he saw Annie Edison leave the train. Abed then tried to push his way through the crowd so he could leave the train and tell her Jeff was here.

However, his camera strap became tangled with a woman's purse zipper.

He yelled, "Annie!"

The train-car doors closed. He missed her.

* * *

"Britta?" Jeff asked.

"Fuck! Why are you on this train? It's going back into the center of the city!" she asked him. She shook her head and yelled, "Were you really stupid enough to take the inbound train instead? Dammit! You do know where she is about to go, right?"

"No, I took this train on purpose." Jeff said.

Britta sucked on her bottom lip and asked, "Why?

"Because I need to let her go."

She remained silent and looked at the ground.

"Britta, why did you come here?" Jeff asked.

"Why were you texting me when you were supposed to be going to Annie?"

He shrugged.

"Exactly," she said,

The train stopped. Jeff tapped Britta on the arm and asked, "Want to get a drink?"

She smirked at him and said with a whisper, "Okay."

"Good."

* * *

Annie sat on the airplane, she looked at the seat next to her. It was empty.

_"Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman, this is your Captain speaking. I want to welcome you aboard Jet Blue Flight 456; non-stop service from Boston to Denver. Once we get airborne, our flight will be approximately four hours and thirteen minutes. Currently in Boston its a beautiful summer day, the winds are out of the South at 14 MPH, with excellent visibility, scattered clouds and a temperature of 76 degrees Fahrenheit. We'll get back to you en route as soon as we have more information; once again, welcome abroad. I hope you all enjoyed your time in Boston._

* * *

**Two Years Later- June 2015**

_Welcome back to the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon! _

_Jimmy Fallon sat at his desk, "Hey! Now for our first guest! He's a weird dude, but we all love him, right don't we? Hhahaha. You bet! Anyway, he directed the film everyone has been talking about since its premiere at South by Southwest Abed Nadir!" _

_Abed walked across the stage and sat in the chair on stage. _

_"So how's it going?" _

_"Pretty well," Abed nodded. _

_"I really liked your movie, especially the part where you spoofed Fever Pitch," Jimmy looked into the camera and laughed smugly. _

_"I prefer homage or pastiche," Abed said. _

_"Oh, sorry," Jimmy shrugged. "So was this film completely improvised? I noticed that you also gave writing credits to the actors." _

_"It was completely real. I manipulated the situations a bit and watched the drama unfold." _

_"Wait," Jimmy tilted his head, "So you're telling me that this was real?" _

_"Yeah," Abed nodded, "I shot the footage over a period of two weeks in 2013 summer and then I returned a year later to see where everyone ended up." _

_"Have the main couple, the ones on the poster, have they seen each other since the completion of the film." _

_Abed stared at the ground and said, "Unfortunately not." _

_"Now, that's sad." Jimmy waved over to a production assistant, "We have a clip! What is this clip of?" _

_"When we were riding on the train, I asked Jeff if he had anything he wanted to say to Annie." _

_The screen behind them showed a clip of Jeff sitting on the subway; his hands buried in his face. _

_"What would you like to say to her?" Abed's voice asked from behind the camera. _

_"I would say, Annie, what I said wasn't true. I'm sorry and I just wanted, no, not wanted, but needed to say that I've changed a lot, but I'm not done changing and I-I don't deserve you if- f these are the asinine things that I'm going to subject you to. It wasn't your fault at all and I'm an asshat. I'm a complete asshat and I just want you to be happy. " _

Jeff turned the TV off and looked at his text messages.

**Britta: Go see Abed's movie 2nite. **

**Jeff: No**

**Britta: u have to see it at some point. U wont regret it. Trust me.**

"Because that alway's works?" Jeff sarcastically said aloud to himself.

* * *

Annie walked into the movie theatre and over to the ticket counter. She smiled at the employee and said, "One for _Grand Romantic Gestures_, please."

The employee handed her the ticket and said, "Theatre two, down the hall, first one on your right."

"Thanks," Annie smiled and walked down the hall and into theatre two. She took an end seat and waited for the movie to begin. It started with instrumental music, but it was quickly cut off by a talking head of Britta.

_Britta had no make-up on and was dressed in a sweatshirt. Her hair was tied up in a messy pony-tail. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Go ahead, Abed." _

_"Have you ever been in love?" Abed asked Britta _

_Britta pursed her lips as her forehead crinkled, "Define Love." _

_Then it cut to a talking head of Troy. _

_"Have I ever been in love?" Troy tilted his head at the camera. _

_"Like, The Inspector and Reggie love or Veronica and Logan love or-" _

_"Mulder and Scully love," Abed said. _

_Troy tilted his head to the other side and said, "I don't think Mulder and Scully love exists." _

_The next scene cut to a talking head of Jeff. _

_"Do I believe in love?" Jeff folded his arms. After a pause, he laughed and said, "Four years ago, I would have said no." _

_It cut back to Britta whose eyes were red. _

_"Define love," her voice was shakier._

_"I've told you before...on the rooftop," Abed said. _

_Britta sniffed her nose and shook her head, "I don't think I believe in that kind of love."_

_It cut back to Jeff. _

_"Define love," Abed said. _

_Jeff rose one eyebrow and said, "Love is putting the other person's needs before yourself. It's knowing that, 'letting go,' isn't necessarily letting go. Because sometimes a person will be happier when you're not in their life. Sometimes you need to accept that you've fucked up and that you just fill this person with negative energy...Because sometimes you're just not good enough for them." _

_The camera cut back to Troy. _

_"What's the worst feeling in the world?" Abed asked Troy. _

_Troy shrugged, "I guess, it's realizing that what you wanted so badly wasn't what you expected it. I guess it's disappointment in, like, this idea of this thing you wanted and then you realize that you were lying to yourself the entire time." _

_It cut back to Britta. _

_"Worst thing ever?" Britta rolled her eyes. She looked directly into the camera and closed her eyes. After a pause, she said faintly,"The worst thing ever is when you realize that thing you wanted so badly is not in your grasp and pretending with someone else is not the same. It's that moment you realize he doesn't feel the same way about you as you do for him. It's that look on his face right before he takes your shirt off; the look of him knowing this is just another mistake he's making on purpose to fill the void." _

_It cut back to Jeff. _

_"What's the worst feeling in the world?" Abed asked. _

_"Knowing you've screwed up so badly that it's beyond repair." _

_It cut back to Britta. _

_A closed-mouthed smile crept across her lips, but the sadness stayed in her eyes, "Regrets?" she asked. _

_"Yes. Do you have any regrets?" Abed asked. _

_She nodded, "Many." _

_It cut back to Jeff_

_"Regrets?" Abed asked. _

_"Many," Jeff nodded. _

_The camera cut to Apartment 303's living room. Jeff and Annie sat on the couch; alone. _

"Abed had a hidden camera?" Annie's eyes widened as she sat in her movie theatre seat.

_On the screen, Annie looked down at the ground, while Jeff looked at her. _

_She shrugged and said, "I didn't think you would care." _

_"Of course I care!" Jeff said angrily, "Why didn't you tell anyone you applied to graduate school?" _

_Annie shook her head and snapped, "Because I didn't think I would be able to afford it!" _

_Jeff stared at her in silence before asking, "So, you want to leave us? After everything we've been through?" _

_"I just need to do this! I need- I need to see who I am outside of this group and- and if that means I have to go away temporarily for two years-" _

_"Temporarily? Yeah, right. Annie, the second you leave the State of Colorado, the probability of you coming back is going to be very low!"_

_"No, its not- I'm only going tempo-" _

_"Annie, when you graduate with your Masters, the chances of you getting a job in Colorado is not going to be the same as somewhere else! And do you know why? Because you have to be so damn good at whatever the hell you decide to do and you're going to get some really prestigious job offering and you'll take that instead of coming back and do you know why?" _

_Biting her bottom lip and her eyes filling with tears, she shook her head. _

_Jeff continued,"Because two years is a long time and you wont be the same person after two years. After two years, returning to Colorado wont be your priority. Because real life isn't about engaging in ridiculous antics like the ones at Greendale. And once you realize that, returning here will just seem ridiculous." _

_"Don't do this-" Annie shook her head, "Telling me that you know more about life because you've lived on this planet longer because I can't take it anymore and if there is anything that I have learned its that you know shit about living life, Jeff!" _

_Jeff stared at her._

_She looked down at the ground again and said, "I'm sick of this."_

_He crinkled his forehead and asked, "Sick of what?" _

_"Of-of you doing this to me every time I try to let go," she began to tear up, "because I've been trying so hard to let go." _

_"Let go of what?" _

_"What do you think?" she asked with a frustrated yell. _

_He paused for a second and said, "I thought-" _

_"I'm not stupid, Jeff," Annie closed her eyes and shook her head, "I-I know what's going on between you and her. I know that you've been seeing her ever since you've graduated and-" _

_"No, Annie-" _

_"No," she shook her head, "I'm not letting you treat me like this anymore. I'm sick of your indecision and I'm sick of you feeling guilty every time you look at me."_

_"I don't feel guilty-" _

_"Then why did we stop?" Annie asked as tears streamed down her face. "Why didn't we ever tell the group?" She tilted her head to the side, "Why did the only romantic interaction we had with each other take place in either your apartment or forty minutes away in Boulder?" _

_"The Group-" _

_She shook her head and said, "Please, leave. I don't want to talk to you anymore."_

_"Fine, Annie! Leave Colorado! Leave after everything, even though you've barely thought about this! Leave! Even though you were the one who kept trying to convince me to stay at Greendale!" he paused and got off the sofa. He looked down at her and said, "Do you know what happens when you make an impulsive decision like this, Annie?" He gestured to her and then to himself, "Us happens." _

_"Fine," She said coldly, "You said it yourself, Jeff. Greendale is over and what happened between us was-" she shook her head and pointed towards the front door, "Go chase Britta and never speak to me again. Go and sleep with Britta, just like you've always wanted." _

_"Fine! You're right, Annie. Its over. Have fun and good luck," Jeff yelled sarcastically. He walked up to the front door, turned around and opened his mouth to say something, but instead he opened the door and left. _

Annie watched as the film cut to Jeff going to Boston and showed his many attempts to apologize to her.

_The film cut to a title card reading "One Year Later- June 2014_

_The scene showed Abed leaving an airport terminal at Logan Airport and being greeted by Annie. She ran up to him and yelled, "Abed! I'm so glad you came!" She hugged him and pulled away. She had an excited smile on her face and raised her eyebrows at him, "Guess what?" she asked. _

_"What?" Abed asked; feigning surprise. _

_She but her lip and showed him a diamond ring on her left hand. _

_"Really?" Abed deadpanned. _

_Annie rolled her eyes, "You knew? Didn't you?" _

_"Sorry," Abed said. _

_She grabbed Abed by the hand and dragged him towards her car, "I want you to meet him!" _

_Abed's camera focused on a handsome, brunette man in his mid-twenties; dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. _

_"This is Gabe," Annie smiled. _

_"Hey, man," Gabe waved to the camera and put his arm around Annie. _

_It cut to a talking head of Annie and Gabe sitting on a couch in her apartment. _

_"Where did you two meet?" Abed asked. _

_Annie smiled and looked at Gabe "I was coming back from Colorado, at the airport, and we met on the train." _

_Gabe nodded, "Yeah, I saw her drop her suitcase and she looked just so broken up about something." _

_"So, he asked me what was wrong," Annie said, "and I explained to him how I was kind of homesick." _

_"So, I offered to take her out to dinner." _

_"And we've been seeing each other ever since," Annie kissed Gabe. _

_"When did you two get engaged?" Abed asked. _

_"Two weeks ago," Annie beamed, "It was right when we moved in with each other." _

_It cut to a talking head of Annie, alone on the couch. _

_"Are you happy?" Abed asked her. _

_Annie enacted a closed-lipped smiled, "I think I am." She paused and shifted her sitting position. She crinkled her forehead. "Define happy?" _

_The camera cut to a talking head of Troy. _

_"How are you?" Abed asked. _

_"Awesome," Troy nodded with a smile. _

_"What have you been up to?" _

_"I have a really successful air conditioning repair business and well, like, you and me still share an apartment."_

_"Dating anyone?" _

_"Nothing serious," Troy shook his head, "I'm not ready for that, yet." _

_It cut to a talking head of Jeff. _

_"Job?" Abed asked. _

_"I work at a small local law firm," Jeff nodded. _

_"Dating anyone?" _

_Jeff shook his head, "Let's just say, the woman for me isn't within my reach." _

_"Still have those regrets?" _

_"Of course," Jeff said. _

_"Have you spoken to Annie since your argument?" Abed asked. _

_Jeff shook his head. _

_The film cut to a talking head of Britta. _

_"What have you been up to?" Abed asked. _

_"I'm a social worker for child services," Britta nodded. _

_"Do you like it?" _

_"More than anything," Britta smiled, "Helping those kids is my life." _

_"I've found something for you," Abed said. _

_"What?" _

_He handed her a piece of paper. _

_Britta unfolded the yellow piece of paper and began to tear up. She cupped her hand over her mouth and looked up at Abed with tears in her eyes, "You found him?" _

_"Yeah," Abed said. _

_"You found Subway- I mean Hunter?" _

_Subtitles appeared underneath Britta saying, _**_Hunter is Britta's long, lost love. _**

_Britta stood up and began to pace back and forth, "I need to go and see him." _

_"Can I film it? Sequel?" Abed asked. _

_She stopped and stared at him. She shook her head,"Hell no," and left the camera frame. _

_Abed focused the camera on himself and said, "Sequels are never as good, anyway." _

The credits rolled and Annie left the theatre.

* * *

Jeff sat on a bench outside of the Denver Multiplex. He leaned over and rested his head between his knees. After breathing in deep, he looked up and saw Annie sitting next to him on the bench. She looked older, her hair was wavier and more carefree. She wore a conservative blue dress and a purse hung on her shoulder. She smiled at him.

Jeff's mouth parted slightly. After a pause he managed to ask, "Annie, wh-what are you-"

"Doing here?" Annie tilted her head and pushed her hair behind her ears.

"Yeah," Jeff nodded as his forehead crinkled.

She let out a half-laugh,"I had a job interview with the Denver Police Department and then I decided to see Abed's movie."

"But it's playing everywhere-even in-"

"In Boston?" Annie smiled. She said softly, "I know."

"Wait-Job interview?" Jeff's eyes widened, "What about your fiancé? The guy you were living with?"

She held up her left hand and wiggled her fingers. There was no ring on her finger. She smiled weakly and whispered, "I was just playing house."

After a pause, Jeff started to say, "Annie-"

"You don't need to say anything," she said with a soft voice as she stared ahead into the parking lot. Annie leaned her head on his shoulder. She linked her arm in his and laced her fingers in his.

Jeff moved his thumb in circular motions; caressing her hand. He said, "But I need to tell you that I-"

"Its okay," she said and closed her eyes. "Please, can we just sit here, like this?"

"Okay," Jeff said.

They sat in silence for a while.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I was wrong and immature then." Annie opened her eyes and looked up at him, "Maybe it was better this way?"

Jeff shook his head, "No, it wasn't."

Annie angled her head upwards and gently kissed Jeff. She pulled away and looked down at the ground, "Good luck, Jeff." She started to leave, but Jeff grabbed her hand, pulled her closer and kissed her passionately. His arms wrapped around her as he tangled his fingers in her hair.

He pulled away and said, "I'm sorry. I should have just knocked on your door."

"That would have made everything a lot easier," Annie smiled.

"Would it have though?" Jeff crinkled his forehead.

"We shouldn't play 'what if,'" Annie said. She looked at the ground and said, "My flight leaves tomorrow and-"

"Can-can...Let me come with you?" Jeff asked.

She laughed and said, "But if you would have let me finish, I would have said, and I need to go back and move my stuff out of my apartment."

"Are you serious?"

She nodded and said as she smiled, "And you said I would never come back to Colorado."

He cupped her face and guided her face towards him to kiss her again. When he pulled away, he leaned his forehead on hers and said, "Which is something I am very glad to be wrong about...I'm so sorry."

"I know," she whispered.

Jeff could feel her breath on his lips. He smiled and said, "I love you, Annie."

"I love you, too, Jeff."

"I'll never do that to you again," Jeff said.

"I know," she said, "It was a confusing time back then."

"I don't ever want to lose you again."

"We wont lose each other, again," Annie whispered, "...Promise me now?"

"I promise," Jeff whispered back. He grasped the back of her head had caressed her hair before kissing her.


End file.
